Does It Rain Where You Are?
by CheesePie
Summary: Itachi goes online looking for friends but finds more then he bargined for when he meets the Akatsuki, will he let the group drag him down? centered around all Akatsuki members so P.O.V changes a lot. there will be pairings, the usual ones. THERE WILL BE YAOI so beware. SasoDei and other Akatsuki pairings.. i'm sort of really into ZetTobi right now... so BEWARE
1. One

**Yeah so this is my new story.. i really don't recall where the idea came form and i know it's a stupid name but whatever... so yeah.. it'll be partially in MSN form, hope that doesn't bother anybody.. if it does well you've come to the wrong place... updates should be just as fast as they usually are (cause i write WAY too much...) yeah...**

**you'll definetely be able to tell who's who.. especially Itachi cause i didn't know what to write so i made him unimaginitive. oh and Sasori and Deidara's names are really similar... yeah...**

**T for now but i might change the rating later on.**

**WARNINGS: swearing, msn, bad beginnings.. typo's, and other stuff**

**Disclaimer: *sighs* sorry. i don't own anyhting but the plot.**

* * *

_DOES IT RAIN WHERE YOU ARE?_

_You are now chatting with 9 random strangers, say hello._

_You're discussion question is: Does it rain where you are?_

Art_Is_Eternal: what kind of stupid question is that?

Art_Is_Fleeting: I think it's the kind you answer, un.

Art_Is_Eternal: un? What _is_ that?

Art_Is_Fleeting: speech impediment, un.

Art_Is_Eternal: online?

Art_Is_Fleeting: I wouldn't want to lie about who I am.

Isn't there someone else on this stupid site, it says there's ten of us, un!

Praise_Jashin: well if you two would allow anyone else time to speak; maybe we wouldn't all be lost for fucking words!

Greed_Is_Good: great, who invited the potty mouth?

Praise_Jashin: fuck you, you heathen bastard!

Itachi_Uchiha: and here I was thinking I'd actually meet some interesting, _civil_ people here.

Art_Is_Eternal: online?

Itachi_Uchiha: I'm an optimist.

Shark_Bait: you're also uninventive.

Itachi_Uchiha: how so?

Shark_Bait: you used your name for your email.

Itachi_Uchiha: what about you, you used 'Shark Bait'

Shark_Bait: yes, because 'Sharks_Are_Awesome297' was taken.

Tobi_Is_A_Good_Boy: Tobi!

Itachi_Uchiha: Tobi, hush. We came onto this site to meet people and I don't want you scaring them away!

Black_And_White_World: leave Tobi alone.

Praise_Jashin: great, I got stuck with a bunch of heathen weirdoes. Just my fucking luck!

Greed_Is_Good: quit complaining; if you don't like it then leave!

Praise_Jashin: bastard, why don't you leave?!

I_Am_God: mother of god, can you all just be quiet for a moment? I can't even hear you all bickering and it's giving me a headache! Now how many of there are you? I count at least eight; all of you introduce yourself, right now.

Praise_Jashin: who the fuck do you think you are?

I_Am_God: just do it.

Art_Is_Fleeting: Deidara, un.

Art_Is_Eternal: Sasori.

Praise_Jashin: Hidan.

Greed_Is_Good: Kakuzu

Itachi_Uchiha: I think it should be self-explanatory, but I am Itachi

Shark_Bait: Kisame

Tobi_Is_A_Good_Boy: Tobi!

Black_And_White_World: Zetsu

Paper_Princess: Konan

I_Am_God: excellent, and I and Pein. I've been at this for three weeks and I haven't met a single group as… _lively_ as the nine of you.

Art_Is_Fleeting: three weeks? Try _three months_ or better yet, try two years. I'm sick of this, un.

Art_Is_Eternal: why would _anybody_ spend that long looking for friends online?

Praise_Jashin: it's clear the kid has no fucking life.

Deidara looked at the screen hesitantly. He knew why he had come online and why he had continued to search, but if he were to write it down….

Eh, he decided it didn't matter what they thought of him anyway. If he didn't want to, he didn't ever have to see them again. So he typed what he wanted to and hit entered.

Art_Is_Fleeting: because un, I really need somebody.

Praise_Jashin: that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!

Itachi_Uchiha: I can relate.

I_Am_God: so can I.

I've been looking for people to add to my chat group. I'm calling it the Akatsuki. We're not looking for a great deal of people, but if any of you are interested?

Art_Is_Fleeting: yes oh my god un, yes!

Art_Is_Eternal: sure, I came on here looking for friends.

Paper_Princess: Sure ^^

Shark_Bait: count me in.

Itachi_Uchiha: yes, against my better judgment.

Tobi_Is_A_Good_Boy: yes please, Tobi would like to join.

Praise_Jashin: whatever, I guess I've got nothing better to be doing.

Greed_Is_Good: okay, I'm in.

Black_And_White_World: we'll join.

I_Am_God: good, I'll have you all added by the morning.

* * *

_Chapter 1 – Sasori_

It had been two weeks since the beginning of the Akatsuki and Sasori logged on every day to chat with them. Granted, they weren't always all on at the same time, the only time that usually happened was during the weekend but it was nice to finally have somebody to talk to.

He found out a lot about them all since then as they were all so willing to share as long as it bore no real life consequences.

Pein and Konan were orphans living in Ame; they were both seventeen and lived in the dorms of their current school but had somehow never run into each other. They were both on scholarships and worked for everything they had, they were both real nerds, apparently.

Kisame was in a sort of gang called _The Seven Swordsman of the Mist_. They lived in Kiri and Kisame didn't get to go to school or make connections outside of the group. He said the guys were like his brothers, but he longed to know what else was out there.

Hidan was a traveller, originally from Yuga, his parents were killed when he was young, and he spent a lot of his childhood in a convent before breaking out and vowing to serve Jashin for the rest of his life though he claimed to be immortal.

Kakuzu said this was a load of bullshit and the only thing we could really trust or depend on in life, was money. He lived in Taki and worked two jobs on the side of school. He'd been emancipated from his parents, said they were irresponsible and wasteful. He'd been injured in an accident and as a result, he had numerous scars along his body. He had trouble making real friends at school.

Itachi and Tobi both lived in Konaha with Zetsu. Tobi and Itachi were cousins, the latter of whom was seen as a genius, the pride of his clan, a gift hand delivered from god. He got the top grades in school without even trying but due to immense family pressure coupled with a distant father and having to learn to take care of himself and his brother alone, he was too distant to really connect with people and just ended up scaring them instead.

Tobi was quite the opposite, friendly and happy, he hid his brains behind a smile and childlike attitude and was passed off by his clan and everyone else, as an idiot when really, he was capable of surpassing everybody his age – excluding Itachi. The only person besides Itachi, who got to see this side, was Zetsu who worked for the Uchiha's and took up residence in their compound, choosing to spend the majority of his time not working, with Tobi.

Tobi and Zetsu only agreed to follow Itachi online because he wouldn't do it alone. He had a brief moment of fear and they were there to support him.

That only left one person, but Sasori hadn't learnt a lot about Deidara. He was definitely closest to Deidara yet the brat had barely told anybody anything about him. He had a backwards view of art, believing it should be fleeting rather than everlasting but beyond that, he never said much.

After school on Wednesday night, Sasori had just enough time between making his cousins dinner and putting them to bed – because his grandmother wouldn't be home until late – to go online.

Logging on, he saw only one other member was on:

Art_Is_Fleeting

Sasori was only on for a maximum of thirty seconds before something popped up.

_Incoming request for video chat with Art_Is_Fleeting_

_Accept?_

Sasori stared at the screen for a moment. Deidara wanted to video chat?

What could they possibly say through camera that they couldn't say on a message board? Though he had to admit, he was curious about Deidara; what did he look like? What did he sound like? Did he really have an annoying speech impediment?

Sasori clicked _accept_ and waited impatiently as the screen loaded and his webcam cam online. When all was done, there sat a smiling blonde, with ocean blue eyes.

He was wearing a _Nirvana _shirt, which was the first thing Sasori noticed. The second was all the posters around his room: _Iron Maiden, Aerosmith, Incubus, Nirvana, U2 and Green Day._

"Hi, un," Deidara waved a little, reminding Sasori that this wasn't a picture. His voice was bright and cheerful and he looked happy, so why on earth did he _need_ somebody? "I didn't think you'd accept."

Sasori shrugged, "I had nothing better to do, what did you want to talk about, anyway?"

"Nothing really, un I was just curious what you would look like, having gotten art so terribly wrong. Honestly un, I figured you'd look a mess but I'm pleasantly surprised."

Sasori scowled. Stupid brat.

"You're not so bad yourself considering your own backwards views on art. In what world would an explosion be classed as art?"

"Deidara get your fucking ass down here right now!"

Deidara cringed as the sound of shouting filled his room and echoed through the camera.

"A world that just makes you wanna explode," he said. He looked towards the door. Would the lock be enough? No, he should go down here. "I'll be right back."

Deidara left the view of the camera and Sasori listened, hearing the door unlock, open and close. Why would he keep his door locked? Did he live in a dorm like Pein and Konan? Was he a traveller or a group member like Hidan or Kisame? Was he a servant like Zetsu, or all alone like Kakuzu? Or, was he just an ordinary kid like Sasori himself, with a little too much on his plate?

Sasori heard more shouting downstairs. Something about a lie to a teacher and Deidara was told not to run his _'filthy little mouth'._ There was silence – or really quiet talking – then a crash followed by another and a hushed voice growling, "go upstairs and stay there for the rest of the night., if I hear one peep out of you…" the next part was whispered but Sasori could imagine what was said.

Moments later, Deidara came back to his room; Sasori heard the lock click before the blonde sat down, blood dripping faintly from his mouth.

"Sorry about that, un," he said.

"What just happened brat, was that your father?"

Deidara's features contorted into a mask of disgusted anger but he caught himself in time to say, "No. I don't know what you heard."

"Look brat, if you're in trouble…"

"Can I see out your window, un?"

Huh, why would he want that?

But still, Sasori saw fit to oblige and held his webcam out his open window.

"Wow un, you really do live in the desert. It's beautiful."

Sasori pulled the camera back in and set it back up on the top of his computer. "What was that about?" he asked.

"Un, I just wanted to remember something."

"That's really annoying, you know that?"

Deidara shrugged carelessly and said, "yes un, well I do try," he looked over towards his door and sighed, "I have to sleep now un, but it was fun getting to see your face," he paused to yawn before saying, "night Danna, un."

The screen went black.

_Danna?_ Just what was this boy playing at?

* * *

_Itachi_

Between work and school, Itachi found he barely had a second to himself and when he did, he spent it with his younger brother, either helping him with his homework or helping with other things.

Now not to be misunderstood; Itachi absolutely adored his little brother – not that anybody could tell – but after a while, he began to ask himself what kind of life he was really living.

He went to school, he went to work, did chores and whatever else his father wanted him to go, he spent time with Sasuke and occasionally with Tobi and Zetsu but there was nobody he could really talk to. That's when he started to schedule study dates with Tobi – Zetsu usually followed him around the compound as one of his main jobs was to watch him – and they began to search for friends online.

They found the Akatsuki on their first try and went online every spare moment they got. Itachi found them all to be quite interesting people but was particularly interested in the one called _Shark_Bait_ or Kisame, if they were talking real names. He seemed to enjoy violence and shared many of his bloody adventures in full detail.

It was disturbing to say the least but intriguing nonetheless.

He logged on that night and checked to see who else was on:

Praise_Jashin

Greed_Is_Good

Art_Is_Eternal

Paper_Princess

Itachi was about to log out, feeling thoroughly disappointed but the conversation behind it caught his attention. Apparently, Hidan had returned to Yuga but was now looking to take up residence elsewhere.

Praise_Jashin: PLEASE!

Art_Is_Eternal: Hey, I didn't know you knew that word

Praise_Jashin: Fuck you!

Greed_Is_Good: you're not going to make any friends with that attitude

Praise_Jashin: I thought WE were friends! I thought that was the whole point of this stupid message board!

Paper_Princess: We ARE friends. And friends don't invite friends to stay over indefinitely for simple fear that their friendship will inevitably crumble

Art_Is_Eternal: that an, you're a psychopath wanted in two or more villages and I don't want to get messy with that stuff.

Praise_Jashin: Psychopath? I'll show you psycho! If I ever come to Suna you better watch the fuck out!

Art_Is_Eternal: Not at all helping your case

Itachi_Uchiha: You can stay with me?

Praise_Jashin: Finally, a real friend!

Itachi_Uchiha: I mean, you'll have to keep it low-key and stay out of trouble with my family, but you're more than welcome to stay.

Itachi blinked at the screen. Why had he just written that? What was it about being online that made him so… different? Why was he letting his guard down for these people? Usually he trusted nobody, much less somebody he couldn't see! But he didn't feel afraid and he didn't want to take it back.

Paper_Princess: Are you sure about this?

Greed_Is_Good: you know who you just invited to stay, right?

Praise_Jashin: No fucking takesies backsies!

Itachi_Uchiha: fine. It should take you about two days to reach Konaha from Yuga. I look forward to meeting you.

Itachi_Uchiha has logged off.


	2. Two

**Sorry it's so short... i've been going through a bad bout of writers block all day Dx**

**uh.. i wanna dedicate this chapter to Red-Hot Habanero for being the first to reveiw this story.. i really wasn't sure about this story and you're reveiw made me really happy ^^**

**also, like i know Tobi is Obito whatever i like Tobi better so yeah... deal with it! X(**

**WARNINGS: there may be OOC on Itachi's part cause i really can't write him... swearing, typo's msn.. uh.. i don't know why but im really getting into ZetsuxTobi right now...**

**DISCLAIMER: oneday i'll own somehting as awesome, but this is not that day.**

* * *

_Chapter Two – Hidan_

Two days later, when Hidan reached the centre of Konaha, he was greeted by a teenager in black. He wore his hair long and looked on with obsidian eyes, two lines ran down his face looking strangely like wrinkles and he stood with a kid who looked almost like his mirror image.

"Hidan?" the elder Uchiha asked, though he already knew the answer.

"Yeah, how'd you fucking know?" Hidan asked.

Itachi frowned at the man's choice of words. There was a child in their presence but it appeared not to matter.

"You're a traveller; clearly it's your first time here. You don't seem to know anybody else and you've spent the last few moments glaring at anybody who looked your way," Itachi explained.

For a moment, Hidan appeared dumbstruck but he covered it quickly with a smirk and said, "So _you're_ Itachi Uchiha?" he looked the boy up and down carefully before his eyes settled on the younger who in turn, moved to hide slightly behind his older brother.

"And this is your son?" Hidan asked, measuring the similarities between the two.

"No. he is my little brother," Itachi clarified. He wondered why the other would think him old enough to have a child. "Sasuke, say hello to my new friend, Hidan."

Sasuke looked sheepishly at his brother's _new friend_ and said, "Hi." He added a small, childish wave.

"Hidan will be staying with us for a while until he gets his life together," Itachi continued.

"What the fuck are you talking about?! I don't need to get my life together!"

Itachi ignored this and began walking away, his little brother quietly following after him. He said, "Hidan will also learn not to swear around the house or I'll be forced to hurt him."

Hidan scoffed, sure that Itachi wouldn't dare lay a finger on him, but still, the cold sound of his voice invoked a certain amount of fear.

Of course there was no real reason to be afraid, seeing as how he was immortal and so Hidan followed after Itachi and mini Itachi, ready to ruin his reputation in yet another village.

The Uchiha compound was big. That was certainly the first thing Hidan noticed. He thought maybe it was bigger than the entire village of Yuga, which was sort of sad when you really thought about it.

Hidan noticed a lot of people staring at them as they walked along the dirt, a lot of people who were clearly related to Itachi as they shared the same traits such as the as the pitch black, soulless eyes.

A lot of them smiled proudly as Itachi walked past but glared at the outsider in their midst. Racists, Hidan thought, though it wasn't the exact right word, he could feel the disdain towards him.

"What the hell is with your family?" Hidan asked, glaring back at the people around him and thinking about what a lovely sacrifice they'd all make, "they're looking at you like you're a fucking pot of gold!"

Itachi frowned. If he kept this up, Hidan _would_ end up being hurt.

"It's 'cause big brother's a genius!" Sasuke exclaimed proudly.

"Genius huh?" Hidan asked, "Well if you're so smart, why'd you have to go online to make friends?"

"Well it would appear," Itachi said, resigning himself to the fact that his friend was evidently, _very_ annoying, "people are intimidated by it."

Hidan let out a bark of laughter, "it's not the genius thing they're intimidated by!" he exclaimed, "you know if you didn't act so dead all the time, maybe people would actually like you!"

Of course in Hidan's mind, this was a perfectly normal ad even acceptable thing to say. And so, taking that into consideration, Itachi chose an appropriate answer.

"I'll work on it then."

"That's what I'm talking about, idiot!" Hidan exclaimed, "When somebody talks to you like that, you're meant to insult them back!"

Itachi frowned yet again. That had been an insult?

"Yes, I'm quite familiar with that type of social interaction."

Hidan rolled his eyes, "whatever, we'll fucking work on it." He said, "Seriously, if you acted the way you act online, in real life, maybe you'd have more friends."

More friends? But Itachi was quite happy having just his brother, cousin and the Akatsuki.

Still, he would do his best to try and be _normal_ for Hidan's sake. And for his own as well, should he ever meet somebody… though that seemed a bit impossible right now.

The main house where Itachi and Sasuke lived was the biggest by far and Hidan thought surely it must be two homes. It was a large concrete building with a large red door. The trio entered and took off their shoes and Hidan took his chance to look around. It was quite a bland home with very little colour. It seemed almost as though nobody lived here, as there were no family photos or pictures of any kind on the wall. The entire house was spotless – or at least as far as the eye could see – and not a single speck of dust lingered on the surfaces of furniture. It was deathly quiet and the air was odourless. It was almost as if all of the abstract senses had been turned off.

"I haven't yet informed my father of your stay here," Itachi said, breaking, _shattering_ the serene quiet that filled the house, "but he is away on business for a while so that shouldn't be a problem. In the meantime you'll only have to deal with my mother."

"Does she live here?" Hidan asked not seeing or even smelling anything that suggested the presence of a woman.

"Yes but she is currently out. If you follow me, I'll show you where you'll be staying until you screw up and get yourself thrown out. Tobi will likely be here soon. He's very excited to meet you."

Hidan nodded and followed Itachi, glad to finally have a place to stay. However he knew it wouldn't be long before he was forced to move on.

* * *

_Tobi_

Tobi hadn't initially wanted internet friends. No he was happy with what he had. But that wasn't to say though, that he didn't want just a little bit more when it was offered to him.

Though he was a cut above the rest, Tobi often reverted to a more childlike state so as not to end up like his cousin. He knew the way Itachi suffered and so he resolved to save himself from a similar fate. So what if the entire clan though him to be a mediocre fool of a boy? He was happy with it, as long as he wasn't expected to lead the clan on into greatness.

Tobi had initially agreed to go online with Itachi, out of pity. Itachi was playing a role he could've fit so well; the role of isolated young genius and so Tobi decided to give him a few hours a day where he could just be normal; a normal teenager who did normal things. However the only normal thing Itachi wanted was friends.

And so that was how Tobi got himself into this situation. He had begged Itachi's father for an hour of the boy's time every afternoon and on their first time online, they were lucky enough to find the Akatsuki. Now Tobi was on his way to meet one of their internet friends… right after he was finished online.

Art_Is_Fleeting: College un? That doesn't sound like something I'd be interested in.

I_Am_God: You don't have to be interested. It's for your own good, not a choice.

Paper_Princess: yeah and besides, it's not all that bad!

Tobi_Is_A_Good_Boy: Tobi thinks Deidara should come to Konaha College

Art_Is_Fleeting: Un, no thanks. I'd rather take my chances somewhere like Suna.

Tobi_Is_A_Good_Boy: Aw but Konaha has way more to offer!

Art_Is_Fleeting: that may be true un, but Konaha also has you, so no thanks.

Tobi_Is_A_Good_Boy: okay well Tobi has to go and visit with Itachi now. But I WILL convince you!

Tobi_Is_A_Good_Boy has logged out.

Tobi closed his laptop and put it away under the desk before heading out to the front room. He pulled out to tell his parents he was leaving – making sure to sound childlike and dumb – before slipping on his shoes and walking out.

Zetsu was out in the garden, working as usual; he looked up when Tobi came out.

"Going to see Itachi, you wanna come?" Tobi asked, making his way down the path.

"Might as well," Zetsu said, **"your parents might worry about you."**

Tobi scoffed, "I doubt it. They probably curse their bad luck every time I come back unharmed."

Zetsu chuckled slightly, the two tones of his voice mixing together, "if only they knew how wrong they were about you."

"Yeah but if that happened, you might be out of a job."

They both knew after all, that Zetsu was only really there to make sure Tobi didn't get himself killed. Though he was supposedly a disgrace to the clan, it would be an even bigger disgrace to have him killed, especially in some kind of embarrassing accident.

"Or even worse; you'd end up as somebody else's slave."

Zetsu frowned, **"I don't agree with that term."**

Tobi said nothing but the amusement was clear in his eyes. Of course there was also something else lingering in those obsidian depths of his; something akin to jealousy at the very thought of having Zetsu serve someone else.

But that wasn't going to happen; Tobi was sure of it.

Unless his parents somehow figured him out. But even for all the were worth, they'd never suspect such a thing.

The two reached Itachi's house in no time at all and walked right in without knocking. Mikoto was back and was in the process of subtly interrogating Hidan who apparently, had a cover story.

"So you're an exchange student?" Mikoto asked.

"Yes, I'm originally from Kiri but I move around a lot," The boy lied.

"And you've moved here in the middle of the school term?"

"Yeah, my parents wanted me to move as soon as possible."

"And they didn't move with you?"

"My father is very attached to his job."

"And your mother?"

"They can't bear to be apart."

"Brothers and sisters?"

"I'm an only child."

Hidan and Mikoto stared each other down for a moment before she finally spoke.

"Alright, welcome to my home."

Itachi, who had been watching from the sidelines, visibly relaxed. He wasn't the type of kid who usually lied to his parents.

"Tobi's here!" Sasuke declared, running into the room and slamming into his brother. "Big brother, can you help me with my homework?"

Itachi sighed but went along with him anyway.

"Afternoon Tobi," Mikoto said with a smile.

She was one to look out for; she never treated Tobi in that patronizing, annoying way that all the other Uchiha's treated him and she didn't look at him like he was a fragile, disappointing piece of glass. If anybody was going to figure it out, Tobi wanted it to be her.

"Afternoon aunty," Tobi said.

"So _you're_ Tobi?" Hidan asked. The boy nodded, just once. "And Zetsu?" Hidan motioned to the other who nodded as well.

"Well it's great to put a face to the damn name!" Hidan exclaimed. He then began to rant on about how long and boring his trip had been and how he'd almost been eaten by a pack of wolves. Tobi didn't mind the senseless chatter though as it distracted from bigger things.

* * *

_Kakuzu_

He lived a very normal, sheltered life. He worked two jobs and went to school but any other time he had, he spent alone.

Kakuzu hated people and their judgmental eyes, so it was clear that he could make no real friends. However he was still relatively human and therefore, required some form of regular social interaction, which was how he ended up online.

There wasn't' much to Kakuzu's story. He had been emancipated about a year ago and now lived alone in a studio apartment closer to the city. He was in a car accident when he was thirteen and never properly healed which he thought was why he hated people so much. He hated to see them looking so normal but with eyes full of… disgust.

The lives of his online friends varies between being a normal school kid and live-in babysitter (Sasori) to being a – somewhat – dangerous traveller (Hidan) or a gang member (Kisame.)

Kakuzu found them all interesting but he found Hidan to also be annoying. He was so frivolous and wasteful, he didn't care about anything but his so-called god, Jashin. He thrived off of pain and destruction. And above all, he was an asshole.

Praise_Jashin: Somebody else please take me in! Konaha sucks!

Greed_Is_Good: I'm the only other one on and I'm NOT taking you in.

What's wrong with Konaha anyway?

Praise_Jashin: Everything! it's too big, too clean, there are too many children, Itachi won't let me swear, everybody's smarter than me, even baby Uchiha and I haven't been able to leave the compound since I got here!

Greed_Is_Good: glad to hear you're suffering. And you know what? I'm not surprised everyone's smarter then you. Maybe if you stayed in one place long enough, you wouldn't have this problem!

Praise_Jashin: Fuck you! I'm worldly! I have world experiences!

Greed_Is_Good: use them to outsmart Itachi then.

Can't? That's what I thought.

Praise_Jashin: Fuck you! You don't know anything!

Greed_Is_Good: I know a lot more than you think I do, idiot.

Praise_Jashin: Prove it then asshole.

Art_Is_Fleeting had signed on

Art_Is_Fleeting: seriously un, it's like 2am, what the hell are you even arguing about?!

Greed_Is_Good: Hidan's an idiot.

Praise_Jashin: DEIDARA TAKE ME IN!

Art_Is_Fleeting: Un, I thought you had moved in with Itachi?

Praise_Jashin: I hate it here!

Art_Is_Fleeting: well I'm sorry un but now's not a good time for me.

Praise_Jashin: What are you talking about, when is it not a good time to help out a friend?

Quit being a little bitch and help me out!

Greed_Is_Good: leave the kid alone.

Deidara what are you doing up so late?

Art_Is_Fleeting: couldn't sleep, un.

Praise_Jashin: aw, did the baby have a nightmare?

Art_Is_Fleeting: Shut up Hidan un!

Kakuzu frowned at the screen.

Sasori had informed them all of his video conversation with the apparent blonde and they were now all concerned for him. but they couldn't do anything about it and that was something that made them all tick. After all, they all had their own problems and were all so far away but it didn't stop any of them from wishing things were different.

As it was, they were still theorizing about Deidara's life, he was still a bit of a mystery and nothing he said ever having a lot away.

Kakuzu could make a small file full of facts he knew about the other Akatsuki members, but not Deidara.

Greed_Is_Good: you two are just like children!

Art_Is_Fleeting: oh, you're one to talk un!

Praise_Jashin_ yeah dumbass, just a moment ago you were doing the same thing!

Greed_Is_Good: because you suck people into your stupidity!

I'm going to sleep and I suggest the two of you do the same.

Greed_Is_Good has logged out.


	3. Three

**chapter three... sorry it's really short adn i apologise in advance for any typo's, plotholes (there is one but i want to see if anyone points it out)**

**gawd. i had two massive exams today and i still had time to write this. something MUST be wrong with me.**

**DISCLAIMER: i own the plot. nothing more.**

* * *

_Chapter Three – Deidara_

Going to school was unsettling he didn't like leaving the house.

He didn't like that it felt like it was a hundred degrees outside.

He didn't like that it felt like everyone knew what had happened to him, what was still happening to him what would probably never stop.

All the inner conflicts he was having hurt his brain.

When he was at home all he wanted to do was leave but when he was gone there was something deep down inside begging him to go back he felt sick; like somehow something was wrong with him deep down inside. What kind of a moron would want to go back to a life like that? But still he couldn't change his own mind.

He drifted through school on a daily basis, barely talking to anyone. Wrapped up in thick clothing. He had grown accustomed to sweating all day by now. He had to. Because all he wanted really was a few moment everyday where nobody could see his ugly scars and look at him with eyes full of pity, possibly even disgust.

No it was more than that.

He wished sometimes that he was invisible and the layers of clothes helped him to pretend that he was. They hid his body from those eyes, not just his scars but they kept him safe from the greedy gaze of other disgusting men who might want him in that way. He figured that if he could hide beneath folds of fabric for the rest of his life, he might be alright.

But things like that never worked at home and was what made him sick.

Despite his insecurities, his fears, his issues, his ugly scars – some self-inflicted and others not – Deidara had taken a liking to Sasori, the red-head from Suna.

He couldn't believe his luck when he found the Akatsuki and was probably much more excited than he should've been. But it hadn't been a lie. He had been looking for somebody, _anybody_ to take the edge off, for two years before he found them.

Talking to Sasori – no matter how insane it might sound – made him feel safe. Now that was something he really hadn't felt in a while so pretty soon, talking with him became a necessity; a priority, _an addiction._

And so it was really no surprise to Deidara when he found himself locked in a bathroom stall during his math class – he had always hated math – logging onto the Akatsuki using the school's Wi-Fi and his own – albeit stolen – phone.

To his surprise, there were actually a few people online.

Art_Is_Eternal

Praise_Jashin

I_Am_God

Paper_Princess

Art_Is_Fleeting: you're all skipping as well, un?

Praise_Jashin: it's not skipping when you don't go to school, idiot.

Paper_Princess: I have a free period.

I_Am_God: so do I.

Art_Is_Eternal: I don't class it as skipping when it's a subject as boring as mathematics. Honestly, when am I ever going to need to calculate the length of a right-angle triangle?

Art_Is_Fleeting: I know right? We're doing a unit on Trigonometry right now and it sucks, un!

Paper_Princess: wouldn't it be terribly ironic if before you could get into heaven, they asked you to calculate the area of a rectangle?

Art_Is_Fleeting: on the off chance that that _does_ happen, I'll see you in hell, Danna, un.

Art_Is_Eternal: I look forward to it, brat.

Sasori had taken to calling him brat. Not that Deidara minded; he actually liked it. he felt it fit him in some strange way.

Paper_Princess: urgh take the hint, guys!

I_Am_God: they'd probably take it more seriously if the price for ignorance was their chance at becoming world famous artists.

Art_Is_Eternal: yeah but it's not like that would really happen…

Art_Is_Fleeting: Un, but what if it did?

Art_Is_Eternal: …I'm going to class

Art_Is_Eternal has logged out.

Art_Is_Fleeting: Me too, un.

Art_Is_Fleeting has logged out.

* * *

_Pein_

After free period and lunch – both of which he spent in his room studying – English was the last subject of the day. Although he was a scholarship student, that didn't mean he liked all of his subjects and it was times like this that he wished he had the option – like Sasori and Deidara – to skip when he felt like it.

Although, English wasn't all bad, even though he found the assignments tedious and pointless, the books they had to read sometimes felt as though they had no depth and any films they saw were old and outdated, but still he looked forward to English sometimes as it was the only class he shared with her.

He didn't know her name and sometimes he wondered if anybody did. She was always alone, even when he saw her out in the hall or in the cafeteria. She was like him in some ways, it seemed.

But she was beautiful though.

He sat in the back of class while she sat in the front. She had the most amazing blue hair that contrasted against the white school blouse she wore. Her blue locks were adorned with a white, origami flower and she had the strangest amber eyes.

She was smart as well. She even got higher marks then he did and she always had the right answers to everything.

He wanted to get to know her but she was strangely unapproachable. Not like the others girls who would walk right up and start talking to you without hesitation. No she was different.

Now Pein could honestly say he had never been afraid of anything before in his life but the thought of talking to that girl, terrified him.

So for now he was content to sit in the back of class and act as though he knew nothing of her existence.

Today they were starting a new assignment, something tedious and boring no doubt and he would be done by the time school started tomorrow. As would lady blue. The two of them were always the first to hand in their assignments.

He wondered what Konan had right now. He knew they went to the same school because it was the only secondary school in Ame that offered scholarships. He wondered if they had any classes together or if she knew lady blue. The odds of those were equally high and low, respectively.

He wondered if she would agree to meet him face to face. After all, they _did_ live pretty close. Actually he was interested in meeting all of the Akatsuki though that would probably be harder to accomplish. They could probably arrange to meet in Konaha when summer vacation started but that wasn't for a while now so he decided he would simply stick with speaking online. For now, that was all he needed.

He barely heard the bell ring over his thoughts but when students began to file out he collected his books and rushed out as well. After a quick look around the hall for lady blue, he went that to his dorm.

It wasn't until after dinner – provided by the school – that he decided to go back online.

He could always pull an all-nighter if it came down to it, in order to complete his assignments.

He logged on and saw that he wasn't the only one with the same idea.

Shark_Bait

Itachi_Uchiha

Black_And_White_World

Tobi_Is_A_Good_Boy

Greed_Is_Good

Tobi_Is_A_Good_Boy: so you've never had to go to high school?

Shark_Bait: nope. I mean, I went to primary school and learnt to read and write and stuff but after the fourth year, I was pulled out. I want to go back, just to see what it's like.

Tobi_Is_A_Good_Boy: nuh-uh, it sucks! The teachers try to make you do homework and stuff! If Tobi wanted to do work at home, he wouldn't have gone to school!

Shark_Bait: it can't be that bad. You get to learn stuff don't you?

Tobi_Is_A_Good_Boy: stupid stuff!

Greed_Is_Good: and you've never had a fight with your parents?

Shark_Bait: well I never knew my parents.

Greed_Is_Good: lucky you.

Itachi_Uchiha: I take it then, that you've never been forced to sit at a desk for two hours on end, explaining to your little brother why X equals 27?

Shark_Bait: as far as I know, I'm an only child so no. and why the hell does X equal 27?

Itachi_Uchiha: forget about it. It's stupid anyway.

Black_And_White_World: so you never had an abstract sexual experience when you were ten that you never told anyone about?

Shark_Bait: …no.

Itachi_Uchiha: was that some sort of confession, Zetsu?

Black_And_White_World: that depends; **do you want to die tonight?**

Itachi_Uchiha: try it plant man. I'm more scared of my mother then I am of you.

Greed_Is_Good: you're afraid of your _mother?_

Black_And_White_World: no you don't understand. His mother is insane.

Tobi_Is_A_Good_Boy: Tobi's getting sleepy. Tobi's gonna go to bed now.

Tobi_Is_A_Good_Boy had logged out.

Black_And_White_World: I better go too. ** If he wakes up as early as he usually does, **I don't want to be too tired to deal with him.

Black_And_White_World has logged out.

I_Am_God: well that was weird. What the hell are you guys even talking about?

Itachi_Uchiha: really normal things that Kisame has never done.

Greed_Is_Good: and a few weird things thanks to Zetsu.

Shark_Bait: yeah, I was just telling them how I was thinking about going back to school.

Greed_Is_Good: high school is a lot harder than the classes you took when you were younger.

Shark_Bait: I know that. But there must be something else; don't you ever get that feeling?

Itachi_Uchiha: of course, all the time.

I_Am_God: I think it's a great idea. Even if you're not able to keep up with the work, at least you'll know.

Greed_Is_Good: yeah, and if you ever need any help, we've got a genius in our midst.

Damn, I've got to go. I've got the night shift.

Shark_Bait: that's right; you could help me get the hang of things, right Itachi?

Itachi_Uchiha: I don't know... if my brother's anything to go by I'm really not much of a teacher. But I could try I suppose.

Shark_Bait: that's great! I was hoping you'd be on board with it cause I already applied. I'm starting next week at Kiri Boarding School.

Itachi_Uchiha: but that's one of the hardest schools in your entire region.

Shark_Bait: I know, that's why I'm _really_ gonna need your help!

Paper_Princess has logged on.

Paper_Princess: I am _so_ sick of doing these stupid English assignments!

Oh sorry, am I interrupting?

Shark_Bait: no, no. I was just about to go to bed anyway, I've got a big day tomorrow, there's some guy I get to execute tomorrow. I forgot what crime he committed but that shouldn't change much, should it?

Shark_Bait has logged out.

Itachi_Uchiha: it'll be a miracle if he doesn't get arrested for killing his teacher on the first day.

I_Am_God: I give him more of a chance then Hidan.

Itachi_Uchiha: right, I still need to tell him I enrolled him.

Paper_Princess: good luck with that. You'll be lucky if he doesn't kill you.

Itachi_Uchiha: I'm not worried. You said something about English?

Paper_Princess: yeah. I got this stupid assignment in English today.

I_Am_God: hey, so did I. what English class are you in?

Paper_Princess: advanced, I had it last today.

He stared at the screen for a moment, acting as though it had said something offensive about his mother.

Konan was in advanced English with him?

How was it possible that they'd never ran into each other?

I_Am_God: no way. I'm in advanced English as well.

Paper_Princess: wow, that's so weird! I don't ever remember hearing your name.

I_Am_God: me neither.

Paper_Princess: okay, next time we have English; let's have a challenge to see which of us can pick the other out first.

I_Am_God: alright. I have to get back to my assignment for now though.

I_Am_God has logged out.


	4. Four

**Wells i had a bit of writers block today. but i worked through it ^^ and i even worked out a plot for this. at first i was just skating along, pretending i knew what was going to happen but i actually do now and that makes me really happy.**

**oh yeah.. for the purposes of my story, Kisame is the youngest..**

**Disclaimer: me no own.**

* * *

_Chapter four – Kisame_

Monday was different.

He had never been to school before. Well, at least not for several years.

The students stared on with big, judging eyes, watching the new guy as he made his way… somewhere. Alright so he didn't actually know where he was going but he wasn't lost.

His timetable said he had biology in TC 7 and the door in front of him said SB 6.

Okay, so maybe he _was_ lost.

There were still plenty of people out in the hall and he looked carefully at their timetables as they went past. If he could find someone who also had Biology, he could just follow them. Unless Biology wasn't in this part of the building. Then he was screwed.

He knew high school was going to be hard but he didn't think it would get so bad before he even found his class.

Itachi was right, he decided, leaning against one of the lockers in defeat and watching disdainfully as students began to enter their classrooms and the halls become virtually empty.

He had spent most of the weekend worrying about going to school and what if something bad happened or he couldn't find his way or he got in trouble or someone started a fight.

Itachi had calmly told him that there was a high possibility he'd get lost and nobody would help him, something bad _might_ but won't necessarily happen, he didn't know any of the work so he'd probably get in trouble for a while and in fact the only thing he could control was violence.

Everybody must have some knowledge of who he is and so it wasn't likely that anybody would try to fight him but in the event that somebody did, Itachi urged him to use his words rather than fighting back. He knew after all, that Kisame would have a hard enough time surviving at that school.

Kisame groaned, banging his head against the locker.

Why hadn't Itachi told him what to do when he got lost?

Maybe he should've gotten a map?

That wouldn't have been very much help though, considering that he didn't know how to read a map.

Why did he even come here? He was screwed!

"You're lost."

It was a simple statement.

Simply annoying.

He opened his eyes, surprised by what he saw. He knew the kid; he hung around with one of the other swordsmen sometimes.

Haku.

The boy everyone usually thought was a girl at first. Kisame thought it was probably because of his eyes. they were so _big_ but not in a bug-like way; no in a way that made him look rather feminine. He had taken to following Zabuza around since his parents were dead and he had little else to do with his life. but he had been sent away recently to get an education.

Kisame knew he went to school but not to _this_ school. It was no wonder he hadn't seen him around lately.

"Yeah uh… do you know where TC 7 is?"

"Biology level 2," it was a statement, not a question, "I have the same class."

"Great, so I can follow you there right?"

"Of course. Right after you remove yourself so that I can get to my locker."

Kisame _jumped_ out of the way quickly, not even taking the time to wonder why a _boarding school_ would need lockers.

"You're not educated like the other swordsmen?" Haku asked. He began to walk, having retrieved his books, and gestured for Kisame to follow him.

"No. I guess they didn't think it would be important for me."

"Well then you're going to struggle with the classes," though his words were rather concerning, Haku offered Kisame an easy smile, "we're in the top class and sometimes even I find the work challenging."

Kisame sighed; he knew this had been a stupid idea.

"Yeah, I'll probably be thrown out after my first week."

"I could always help you though, if you need it. So don't be afraid to ask."

"R-really?"

Haku nodded, again showing that strangely serene smile.

"Of course, I'd be happy to."

With those final words, Haku slipped into one of the classrooms; TC 7, leaving Kisame out in the hall a little confused.

Had he… had he just made a friend?

* * *

_Hidan_

"Nuh-uh, no goddamn way!"

Hidan's morning was less than ordinary.

He was woken up at the crack of dawn then told by his traitorous heathen bastard of a friend, that he had been enrolled in _school?!_ What the hell was with that?!

School was not typically the type of place he would go, much less willingly so why the hell would Itachi do something so stupid?!

"I'm not going to school bastard, you can go by yourself!"

He had holed himself up in the bathroom earlier but Itachi had gotten in. he swore that in a past life, Itachi must've been some kind of ninja. He was somehow able to force Hidan to get dressed, have breakfast and was now dragging him through the compound gates, ignoring his shouts of protest.

"Big brother, people are staring," Sasuke noted – _helpfully_ of course.

Itachi sighed, "People always stare," he said, "just ignore them."

He paused at the sound of running and waited for Tobi to catch up. School was the one place Zetsu couldn't follow him and so he was alone, clutching that stupid orange mask.

"Do we really have to do this today?" he asked, completely out of breath.

"I'm afraid that we do, Tobi," Itachi said.

Tobi sighed and slipped the mask onto his face. It made people uncomfortable. That was the main function of his mask. It unnerved them which helped a lot with his act. Well not only that, but Tobi was forced to wear the mask whenever he left the compound, as his parents didn't want people to see his true face. It was about as close to disowning him as they would get.

"Still worth it Tobi?" Itachi asked as they continued to walk and as he continued to drag Hidan along – still screaming and complaining of course.

"I hate orange!" Tobi groaned, "But at least I'm not the pride of the clan, like you!"

And as much as he hated to admit it, Itachi sometimes wished he had taken to easy way out like his cousin. But at the same time, he didn't know how anybody could deal with that amount of disappointment.

It wasn't long before they reached the school. Itachi had already given Hidan his timetable but after taking Sasuke to the small portion of the school that catered for younger teens, he decided he might as well drag Hidan to his first class.

"You're in chemistry 01 with Tobi and he'll tell me if you skip out on your next class."

Hidan _would've_ argued but the look in Itachi's eyes told him not to and he settled instead for looking at his timetable.

"History 02."

"Also with Tobi!" Tobi exclaimed, already getting into his hyperactive attitude. One of these days though, he knew he'd end up killing himself over it.

Itachi nodded, "in fact I think you'll find the two of you share all of your classes," he gave the slightest of smirks as he pushed Hidan through the door and said in an almost _mocking_ tone, "have fun."

* * *

_Pein_

When he handed his work in on Friday, lady blue's had already been there though he didn't get to glance the name because of the angle.

He sat in English class now or slept, to be precise. The rest of the class was scrambling to finish their assignments.

Idiots.

But he was woken from his somewhat peaceful sleep by the obnoxious ring of his phone and sat up, ignoring the ache of his back and arm, to quickly turn it onto silent.

He hadn't realized he was still logged in but it was now painfully obvious.

Somebody else was signed in as well:

Paper_Princess

And it seemed the cause was a photo, posted by her.

It was almost scary that she had posted a picture of _him._ In class. Sleeping. And it had clearly just been taken. That meant Konan was one of the girls in class right _now._

Paper_Princess: judging by the fact that you're now staring at your phone, I think it's safe to say I'm correct?

He looked up carefully, trying to spot somebody looking at him but everyone in the room was either looking straight ahead or had their heads down.

Paper_Princess: okay now you try to point me out.

I_Am_God: you hide yourself very well. One might even think it's intentional.

Paper_Princess: yes well what would this game be without a little challenge?

Pein smirked down at the screen, thinking internally; _challenge accepted._


	5. FIVE

**Firstly i would like to say, sorry for adding an OC. but after extensive research, i could not find any other nin who came from Taki. except for the seven-tails but that's not much worth it. and not right for the part. Secondly, i am ****_really_**** getting into KisaIta right now. i probably have too much time on my hands to be reading so much of it... whatever. DON'T TRY TO CHANGE ME! Dx Thirdly, i couldn't resist. everything i wrote in this chapter might not seem neccessary but it totally is and i just couldn't resist.**

**oh yeah, and this is the second longest chapter i've written for this story so far ^^**

**DISCLAIMER: i own the plot&idea. that is all.**

* * *

_Chapter Five – Sasori_

_Crash! Bang!_

Sasori sighed, wondering what ridiculously expensive thing his cousins had broken this time.

Sometimes he thought Granny Chiyo's home was like a doll house – excluding the children's rooms which were littered with toys, music and video games respectively – because everything in it seemed old and valuable and the whole place – again, excluding the children's rooms – were immaculate.

And sometimes Sasori though, his cousins needed to be locked up or tied down. Maybe both.

Except his youngest cousin Gaara, who was currently sound asleep on his lap, having drifted off to the scratchy sound of pencil against paper and the even rhythm of Sasori's heart. Gaara was young and so he didn't participate in fights between his older brother and sister; in fact more often than not he would end up hiding with Sasori in his room though Sasori knew it was only a matter of time before he snapped and over-powered the other two. He was young but he had a few terrifying moments

"Stay out of my room you creep!" he heard Temari yell.

She was the oldest at fourteen, only two years younger then Sasori himself. Kankuro was the middle child, aged eleven and Gaara was eight. None of them had real parents and had lived with their Granny Chiyo most of their lives.

"Then quit stealing my stuff!" Kankuro yelled back.

_Crash! Bang!_

And Sasori had had enough.

He stood up, careful not to drop the sleeping child and stepped out into the hall which was a mess of broken glass and shattered wood. Temari froze in place as she had just been about to pinch Kankuro who in turn, froze in a somewhat defensive position.

Sasori pretended not to notice them and carried Gaara to his room across the hall which was now silent. He settled the boy in his own bed before heading back into the hall.

Nothing had to be said; all Sasori had to do was look at his cousins and they immediately pulled apart.

"Clean it up," he told them in a voice layered only with his usual boredom, "then go to your rooms. This is the first time he's slept in two weeks and I don't want you waking him."

Temari nodded, giving a close-eyed smile before shooting a death glare at Kankuro that translated clearly to _this isn't over._ But Sasori decided his work was done here for now and headed back to his room.

He had already completed his homework for the night – though it really wasn't that much – and with the children fed and otherwise taken care of, he had a lot of spare time on his hands.

Naturally – or perhaps not so – his thoughts went to Deidara. He really didn't know what to think of that boy; he was open in a sort of closed book way that was both intriguing and annoying and Sasori found that he spent an unhealthy amount of time thinking about him.

That blonde idiot with the annoying speech impediment and moronic views of art. What the hell made him so interesting? Excluding that one time they had video-chatted, he was really only words on a screen that may or may not have been true.

And yet Sasori wanted to meet him.

He wanted to go to Iwa or to have Deidara come to Suna – though the latter seemed less likely. There was an art program on in Iwa during spring break which would be in two weeks. He wanted to go and to have Deidara go as well. And it was free so he couldn't imagine money being an issue.

Yeah that was it. He'd convince Deidara to go with him.

He knew it really made no sense but lately he had been feeling an insatiable need to see Deidara or at least hear his voice, and he was hoping that going to Iwa would satisfy that unsettling urge. He figured that since he had already applied before he even came across the Akatsuki, that it wouldn't seem creepy.

He logged on that night to see who else had nothing to do with their lives right now and as luck would have it, he found two others;

Art_Is_Fleeting

Tobi_Is_A_Good_Boy

Art_Is_Fleeting: Tobi un, for the last damn time, I'm not moving to Konaha! Not now and not ever, un!

Tobi_Is_A_Good_Boy: That's alright Deidara; Tobi knows one day you'll change your mind. Konaha College is the cheapest, you know.

Art_Is_Fleeting: I already told you un, I'm either going to Suna or Kiri, depending on how far I want to be from home, un.

Tobi_Is_A_Good_Boy: yet another reason to move to Konaha. It's in between so you don't have to decide!

Art_Is_Eternal: Konaha College has a lousy art program. I was thinking of going to Kiri as well but Suna is more affordable.

Art_Is_Fleeting: of course Danna, un. Everything in Kiri is expensive! I have no idea how Kisame can even afford to _breathe _there, un!

Art_Is_Eternal: well _obviously_ he must be filthy rich. He's going to boarding school there now, too.

Art_Is_Fleeting: Un, I would be ruined after just one day there.

Tobi_Is_A_Good_Boy: Tobi's parents were going to send Tobi there. But Tobi didn't pass the admission test.

Art_Is_Eternal: there's an admission test?

Art_Is_Fleeting: how the hell did Kisame pass, un?

Art_Is_Eternal: maybe Itachi helped him cheat?

Tobi_Is_A_Good_Boy: nah, Itachi wouldn't do something like that! Besides, the test really isn't that hard.

Art_Is_Fleeting: then how come you didn't pass, un?

Tobi_Is_A_Good_Boy: Tobi didn't want to leave Konaha!

Art_Is_Fleeting: understandable un. Sometimes I get a little scared when I think of leaving home. That's why I'm glad they're big on art around here.

Art_Is_Eternal: you mean like the spring break program they've got going on?

Art_Is_Fleeting: yeah, un! I've been looking forward to that all semester!

Art_Is_Eternal: you already applied? Good I thought I was going to have to convince you.

Art_Is_Fleeting: are you kidding, un? I'm going to show those losers what real art is all about!

Art_Is_Eternal: you mean you're going to blow the building up?

Art_Is_Fleeting: shh! It's a surprise un!

Art_Is_Eternal: ha, alright brat, I look forward to seeing what you call _art_. But I should probably get going now. My cousins' wake up super early and I don't think it's a good idea to leave them unattended.

Art_Is_Eternal has logged out.

* * *

_Itachi_

Monday had been a very _long_ day. He had been called away from class numerous times in order to deal with Hidan, who hadn't made it easy on anybody. It seemed he _really_ didn't want to go to school.

If he was being honest, there were many times throughout the day where Itachi had just wanted to strangle him. But of course, that wasn't in his nature and so he hadn't _literally_ wanted to. Hidan just had a unique way of making him angry.

Then after school he was forced to spend almost two hours attempting to help Sasuke with the homework from the advanced math classes their parents had him taking but in the end he was forced to send the boy to Tobi, who had always been a better teacher.

If Tobi's parents ever found out he had been helping Sasuke with his homework all this time, they'd probably force him to re-take the admission test for Kiri boarding school, this time with no tricks. Of course, how they hadn't yet figured out it was indeed a trick, was far beyond both boys. After all, there had _never_ been a stupid Uchiha, yet Tobi's parents were content to believe they were cursed.

The only good part of the entire day was when Itachi had gotten to speak with Kisame online.

He couldn't really explain how or why, but he had grown attached to him, he found that somehow he had begun to care about Kisame and his wellbeing, despite the fact that it seemed as though he were nothing more than a username and words in plain black script on a screen. And although Itachi was happy to hear that he had made a friend – or rediscovered an old one, whatever – he was unsettled by the thought of Kisame having somebody else in his life to depend on.

Though it was probably better for him to have a friend in real-life, Itachi still didn't like it.

And he didn't know why.

Which annoyed him.

And he knew when one was annoyed with oneself, there was definitely something wrong.

But the only person he knew who might know something about these issues – somebody who wasn't related to him – was Hidan. Itachi wasn't too sure whether he wanted to go down that road or not, but he figured eventually, that he wouldn't be able to solve a problem like this himself and ended up in Hidan's room only thirty seconds later.

When he was finished explaining his predicament, Hidan only laughed.

"That's fucking ridiculous!" he howled, "I mean, firstly, you saying that you have a problem with him making friends, would be like him saying he has a problem with Sasuke."

Itachi frowned, almost understanding, but not quite, "why would he have a problem with Sasuke?"

"That's not what I mean, dumbass. That was just an example," Hidan explained, "I was trying to say that it's stupid for you to be feeling this way. You don't call the shots in his life. Sure if the two of you were in some sort of relationship then –"

"What do you mean _relationship?"_

Hidan sighed. Of course it was just his luck to be stuck with a genius who couldn't understand basic fucking social protocol.

"You know, when two people like each other, they get in this stupid thing called a relationship and –"

"I know what a relationship is Hidan. But why does that apply to this situation?"

Hidan smirked, "because I have a theory."

"Ah, I'm impressed that you even know that word."

"Fuck you, asshole!" Hidan exclaimed, before mumbling, "I learnt it in school today," causing Itachi to take on an amused look, much like that of a child. "Anyway I have a theory. My theory is that you're so fucking messed up in the head, that you actually let yourself begin to fall for somebody you don't know."

Itachi thought about it for a moment, going over any other possible explanations – mentally kicking himself for not thinking of it – and ultimately coming to a conclusion.

"It's plausible I suppose," He began, "but there's only one problem; I'm not gay."

Again, Hidan laughed, possibly louder then he should've but that was _far_ beyond the point.

"Yeah, if you're not gay then I'm not fucking immortal!" he exclaimed, "despite the fact that you're a fucking freak, you have girls making passes at you left right and center," yes, he _had_ noticed the swarm of girls that seemed to conspicuously circle Itachi, as well as the smaller, eight year old group that seemed to circle mini Itachi. "Any normal, _straight_ guy would've taken advantage of it and hooked up with half of those girls by now. But you haven't so much as spared them a passing fucking glance!"

Itachi frowned. "Isn't it possible that I'm just _considerate_ of their feelings? Or that I have higher standards?"

Hidan shook his head. "Nope. You're gay for shark-boy. Now get out and leave me alone."

Itachi didn't protest as he was ushered out of the room. He was too busy considering what had been said. He knew now that it was true and that it was certainly the only possible explanation. Because he _had_ gone over everything else while speaking with Hidan.

But how did he feel about it?

He knew he'd be thrown out if his father ever figured it out and so he had to get rid of the feelings as soon as possible. But as he thought about it, he found he didn't want to be rid of them. They were… different, in a nice kind of way. They made him feel normal in a way he had been searching for when he found the Akatsuki.

So he thought maybe it wouldn't be so bad to pursue this, just a little, just to see where it led.

And he thought, consequences be damned.

* * *

_Kakuzu_

He had taken on another part-time job, offered to him by his Aunt Ellie. She wasn't his real aunt, nor was she a friend of the family. She was just a woman kind enough to help him out when he most needed it.

It was a simple job and all he had to do was wash dishes. It was the pay that affected him most, not that he needed it but money was most definitely his favorite thing in the world.

He thought maybe the Akatsuki would come in second, since he had nothing else besides school, going on in his life and he certainly had more fun with them then he did at any other time.

He was quickly finding out that they were all uniquely weird.

Take Konan for example. A lot of the time it seemed like she had a bit of a mother complex and she had no problem being the only female in a group of guys. She was strange that way and in the way that she could outwit both Pein and Itachi without a second thought.

Tobi and Zetsu were both strange together. For it seemed like they did everything together, at least that was how it appeared when Itachi spoke of them. Always, _always_ together – except for during school… or in the bathroom – and they wouldn't have it any other way. Then there was the fact that Tobi was clearly a lot smarter then he acted, which was strange all on its own.

But Kakuzu found that he didn't mind what some might call their flaws. In fact he found the Akatsuki were more relatable because of their flaws. He had fun talking to them because they were different.

Anyway, it was on Monday night that Kakuzu was working at the new job his aunt Ellie had gotten for him, washing dishes in a tacky old restaurant which she owned, that he got news which some might call troubling.

Now his aunt Ellie was by no means a _family friend_ but they lived in a small village and so everybody knew everybody else's business. That was how they had met, after all; she had heard of his situation and put him up until he was able to support himself.

She rushed into the kitchen around ten, worry in her baggy grey eyes. She was an old woman and had long since given up on re-dying her hair. She was the only positive adult interaction Kakuzu had in his life. She was more like a mother then his own had ever been but now she seemed a little younger in her concern, the look on her face was reminiscent of a little girl.

"Something wrong?" Kakuzu asked, sensing trouble without having to look back.

"Oh, I'm so sorry dear," she murmured, really not sure what else to say.

"Why, what happened?" this time he turned around, concern painting his usually stoic features.

"It's your parents…" she paused, really not knowing how to say it but she had to nonetheless. "They're… they died."


	6. Six

**Yeah... i'm sorry for shortness in places.. and for small insert of ZetsuXTobi. I CAN'T RESIST! THEY'RE FUCKING ADORABLE, SCREW YOU ANYWAY! Dx yeah also i realize i've failed to explain something... see i've read so many stories where Tobi's a bumbling annoying idiot and it sorta gets on my nerves so i wanted to make him different ^^**

**Warnings: stuff happens guys... yeah.. oh and swearing. i'm beginning to think i have a foul mouth... and OOC a little...**

**Disclaimer: nope, nope, nope. except plot&idea.**

* * *

_Chapter Six – Kakuzu (still)_

He didn't know what to feel. They were his parents and even if he didn't like them – okay, he hated them – that didn't change the fact that they were supposed to always be there. Not that they had been there to begin with. So then what did he feel?

Pain? Remorse? Sadness? Anger?

No he felt nothing and continued on with his life as it had been before.

The news didn't at all hinder his ability to work or learn. It was almost as though nothing had changed at all.

It had been just a passing mention on the Akatsuki page but it had caused an uproar of worry and concern.

He was asked at least twenty times if he was alright and how he was coping and if he needed a friend. The entire Akatsuki actually offered to drop everything and go to Taki but he had to decline most offers. Kisame was too far and Sasori had to care for his family, as did Itachi. He wasn't sure of Deidara's situation and so politely requested that he stay in Iwa. Hidan was only out to leave Konaha so his offer was ignored. Technically Tobi wasn't meant to leave the compound other than for school so he was declined, as was Zetsu who probably wouldn't know what to do with himself if away from Konaha. That just left Pein and Konan, both of whom were scholarship students and Kakuzu couldn't in all good conscience ask them to leave Ame.

He tried to explain that he had hated them, that he still did and that he wasn't even going to their funeral but all he received from the Akatsuki was more pity.

He didn't want to ruin the beautiful illusion of parents, for Kisame, Pein and Konan, nor did he want to ruin the memories of – what he hoped were – happy families for Sasori and Hidan, so he didn't go into detail of the reasons _why_ he hated them.

But they were drunks. They spent all their money on alcohol, and were always on the verge of getting evicted. They were mean and neglectful, barely if ever acknowledging that they actually _had_ a child and whenever they did, they were openly regretful of that fact.

They took their lives for granted and so it was no surprise to him that they were dead now. But still, his friends continued to try and comfort him, though it really wasn't require and even the kids at school were… _different._ He decided he would try to stay away from the Akatsuki until after his parent's funeral, just to give them a little time to get over it, but still he couldn't resist signing in around 2am on Wednesday night – or Thursday morning, whatever.

At that point, he and Hidan were the only ones on. It seemed like Hidan was always online at insane hours during the night.

Praise_Jashin: what are you doing up, aren't you worried that if you stay up now, you'll be too tried for school?

Greed_Is_Good: careful Hidan, you're starting to sound like you actually care.

Praise_Jashin: shut up dumbass, I was just trying to be considerate.

Greed_Is_Good: well stop it, it's disturbing. Anyway won't you be tired as well?

Praise_Jashin: doesn't matter, Tobi will take down all the notes anyway. Then it's just a matter of tricking Itachi into doing my homework.

Greed_Is_Good: you're a lousy person, you know that?

Praise_Jashin: so what? We all have our fucking flaws! Is it a crime to use the resources available to me?

Greed_Is_Good: I'm pretty sure _resources_ don't include _people._

Praise_Jashin: see now you're just being fucking picky!

I might as well go to bed seeing as how you're being a little bitch!

Greed_Is_Good: wait, don't.

He paused, looking at his own words, why had he written that?

He _hated_ Hidan, just as he was sure most of the other Akatsuki did – or they at least disliked him 75% of the time. But right now, that didn't seem to matter. Because he felt like Deidara, the first time Akatsuki met. Those words, standing so bravely on the screen when Kakuzu was sure nobody else would've written it:

_I really need somebody._

And he wasn't sure why he felt this way, but it was almost suffocating. It was ridiculous but suffocating nonetheless.

Praise_Jashin: ha, what? You want me to stay online so you can bitch at me some more. No fucking thanks.

Greed_Is_Good: just shut up. Shut up and stay for a while. I don't want to sleep yet.

And although typing those words and re-reading them on the screen was painful – literally painful – he was appeased when he got his reply.

Praise_Jashin: alright, what do you want to fucking talk about?

* * *

_Konan_

It was Thursday and she had a free period.

It was raining outside, drops splattered against the glass barrier she hid behind, watching from the third floor as water began to form small puddles on the concrete. The sky was dark and cloudy; it was a gloomy, cold day. Days like this always brought her down.

She didn't like water, not at all. Although sometimes she thought maybe it was being wet, that she didn't like. It felt gross and cold, not that she minded the cold, but she hated getting her hair wet.

She ran a hand through her hair subconsciously, still staring out the window like she did sometimes when she wanted to think. She thought of the colour blue and how strange it was… then she thought of Pein. The colour blue – along with making her think of the sky – made her remember how much fun it was to mess around with Pein.

She thought that surely by now, he must realize that she was the only other person here on scholarship and that there was no way anybody else would continually hand in their assignments the day after they were set. And even if he didn't, there were tones of other signs that pointed at her being Konan.

But then she knew that his mind was clouded when it came to her body. Well, not her body as in belonging to Konan, no she meant the body belonging to the girl with blue hair. Konan found it amusing that she could read him so easily and she knew he liked her though this was only a recent revelation, perhaps fueled by their online talks. But he might never guess that the girl with blue hair and the girl he spoke with online were the same people.

At least not without a little push in the right direction.

If she was really being honest, Konan was beyond ecstatic when she figured out Pein's true face. She had like him since their first year at Ame high school, when he was forced to read aloud in class. She hadn't heard his name back then and was never very good at talking to boys – at least not boys like him who really seemed interested in no one – but she figured that since it was a game now, she was sure to win.

* * *

_Zetsu_

He was beginning to think that perhaps his life revolved a little too much around the little Uchiha boy.

Okay, so he wasn't a kid anymore and therefore required more attention – or was it less? He could never remember little details like that – but that did not excuse the fact that Zetsu found his life a complete and utter bore for the seven hours Tobi was away at school.

Then there was always the hour _after_ school where Tobi was feigning depression because he had to do his homework, when in actual fact he had actually completed it during the brief break they were given in between classes at Konaha high school.

Then of course, around five, Sasuke would come running up to the house and complain that his big brother wouldn't do his homework for him and that he found the math's problems too hard. But Zetsu wasn't surprised that he found it hard. Honestly, he didn't know what the hell was wrong with those Uchiha's, always trying to push their children above and beyond by forcing them into class's way above their level.

He wasn't surprised that there was one amongst them who actually faked stupidity so that he didn't have to be treated that way. Not that his parents hadn't _tried_ forcing him to do better, but it had never worked. Of course Tobi was able to keep up with the work when he was put into higher classes – hell he even did the assignments and burned them later just to spite his parents – but wait, that wasn't the point.

Zetsu was beginning to think he was too involved in Tobi's life.

That kid had him wrapped around his little finger, as he did with most of the people in his life. And it was made worse by the fact that Zetsu couldn't brush it off and blame it on the fact that he felt sorry for Tobi. He was one of the few people in the world who couldn't say that at all.

He was beginning to think there was something strange going on in his head, or maybe it was his heart, again he wasn't good with details like that. But while he pondered this one Thursday afternoon, tending the gardens – and waiting for Tobi to come home – he found that he rather liked his life being this way.

He liked that he had to be around Tobi constantly, the boy who most found annoying but he had long since grown accustomed to. And maybe he thought it was a little more than simple familiarity. Perhaps it was something bigger, something scary and not altogether safe.

"Morning Mr. Zetsu!"

Speak of the devil – and he shall appear – Tobi came practically skipping through the gates, pulling that awful orange mask off of his face to reveal the lingering smile from his day of being an idiot. In fact, it seemed he was still in his act as he never usually called Zetsu that when he was in the compound.

**"It's afternoon Tobi,"** Zetsu sighed. He didn't like cheerful Tobi.

Tobi looked up at the sky and frowned, "my mistake, it seems you're right," he smirked slightly, "good work, slave."

"I still don't agree with that term."

Tobi laughed, another sign that he was still caught up in being a moron, he said, "that's why it's a good thing you don't call the shots," and without a second thought about it, placed a chaste kiss on the plant man's cheek before rushing inside and greeting his parents loudly.

Zetsu brought a hand up to where Tobi had just kissed and frowned.

_What the hell was that about?_

* * *

_Hidan_

It was twelve at night on Thursday and he was bored.

He always had trouble getting to sleep at night and guessed that maybe it was because of all the sleep he got in class, but he was never going to stop slacking off, not until Itachi pulled him out of school but then it really wouldn't matter.

Not that school was all that hard. Tobi helped him a great deal with the work and anything he didn't finish, Hidan got Itachi to do.

Speaking of Itachi… Hidan climbed out of bed and walked across the hall to see what the older Uchiha was up to.

Sleeping of course, like the boring little rule-follower he was.

Who cared if curfew was like, an hour ago?

Hidan was about to leave the room when he spotted Itachi's laptop, still partially opened. Itachi had fallen asleep while using it and it was still on, hell he was even still logged in which presented Hidan with a once in a lifetime opportunity. Itachi _certainly_ wasn't the type of guy to leave himself logged in _twice_.

Hidan picked up the laptop and carried it silently into his own room where he properly examined it. Itachi had been logged into the Akatsuki and still was. This was perfect as it seemed there was still one other person on right now:

Shark_Bait

Itachi_Uchiha: dude, what are you still doing awake, don't you have classes tomorrow?

Shark_Bait: huh, I could say the same thing to you. Don't you have curfew or something like that?

Itachi_Uchiha: yeah but I decided to bend the rules a little. There's no harm in that, right?

Shark_Bait: are you alright, you seem… different.

Itachi_Uchiha: yeah of course, I'm fine. I thought I'd just check the page one last time before I went to sleep and just my luck, you were on.

Shark_Bait: well uh, I don't want to keep you from your sleep or anything…

Itachi_Uchiha: you're not, but if you need to be somewhere…?

Shark_Bait: no, no I don't! I just uh.. I don't want to hinder that brilliant mind of yours.

Hidan smirked at the screen, already having fun with his new game.

He could tell Itachi really, _really_ liked Kisame, even if he denied it every possible chance he got, and it was getting annoying. Hidan was going to settle this once and for all – or at least for a little while – and find out if Kisame liked him back.

Typing his next reply, Hidan felt like he was a damn high school student, then he realized he was and didn't feel an ounce bad for what he was doing.

He _hated_ going to school!


	7. Seven

**incoming, mega chapter. it's the size of two chapters sandwiched together. god i'm sorry for the size, but i'm just SO HAPPY because of my merit in English (admittedly, there's one mark higher then that but still, i bull-shitted the entire paper!)**

**anways, once again, i must apologise for my facination with ZetsuxTobi. I CAN'T HELP IT Dx**

**WARNINGS: swearing (curse my foul fucking mouth!) um.. it's dark in the beginning, i wanted to give my readers something dark to think about... and ZetsuxTobi. it made sense that they'd be the first to get together... and tiny time skips. reader beware.**

**DISCLAIMER: i'm pretty sure i don't have to do this for every chapter.. but it's become a habit.**

* * *

_Chapter Seven – Deidara_

Friday found him locked in a toilet stall, jumper off, wiping blood away from fresh cuts that over-lapped old scars and covered new bruises. He loved the colour red. Red like a dwindling flame. Red like willing roses. Red like the sun as it sinks into the sky. Red like blood, trickling down his arm.

And he loved the pain as well.

He was by no means a masochist, but he felt pain and fear were two of the strongest, purist forms of art. Each new cut was a fleeting moment of intensity, followed by the colour he loved so dearly and ending abruptly with a flicker of fear that he might never feel anything again.

This repeated cycle had become an addiction, albeit one that made him feel sick deep down but an addiction nonetheless. He hid behind the dark lure of this addiction when things got bad.

Needless to say, last night had been bad.

He had arrived home after school to the smell of vodka, the sight of broken glass and a distorted room which had clearly been rifled though. The money he had been saving for almost a year was gone, probably to pay for more alcohol and he knew he wasn't safe there but had almost no will to leave.

Now he was sitting in a toilet stall, wiping away still dripping blood, fighting away tears of frustration – and trying not to punch the wall again because that had hurt.

He was trying not to think about what had happened and what would no doubt happen again. But he had given up a long time ago on trying to forget.

Forget it he thinks.

The bruising grip, the hits, the pain. But he can't.

_Forget it_, he'll think again.

Muffled screams, useless attempts to fight back or get away, yelled insults that make his self-esteem disappear. But he _can't._

**_Forget it_**; he'll think a final, _desperate_ time.

That helpless, trapped, _lonely_ feeling. But try as he might, he can't.

He felt like a caged bird, trapped in by bars of his own creation, made of his own insecurities, wings clipped by hi fear and flight lost due to unwillingness to leave home.

Birds were meant to fly but by now he was merely a sorry excuse for one. A flightless, broken creature.

But not forever, he wouldn't allow himself to stay like this forever; he wouldn't allow himself to stay like this forever. He would do something, anything to get away. He wouldn't sit back forever and just _take it_.

He was a fighter and the fact that he had survived this long should serve as proof. Even if he had to blow up the world, he would get away one day. Though for now, he could only wait for the day when he got to go away to college.

The bell for fourth period rang. He had math.

On the off chance that Pein had been right, he decided he would go.

* * *

_Tobi_

He had a problem.

He had a problem and he couldn't talk to anybody about it.

He had a problem and the only person he wanted to talk it over with, was the one person he could never tell. Or he could, depending on how he managed to analyze the situation. For now, he supposed he could settle for now by running a few tests in his mind… yeah, that would probably work. He decided he would consult Itachi about it later though. He figured that if anybody could help with a problem like this – and also be trusted with such – it was Itachi.

But for now, Itachi and Hidan were arguing. It was quite unlike Itachi to argue but considering what had happened… it seemed Hidan had crossed a line. And he would be lucky if Itachi didn't hurt him.

So Tobi decided his problem could wait. This was far too amusing to interrupt.

"Stop being a stuck up bitch! He likes you back, isn't that what fucking matters?!"

If they weren't in high school, Tobi would've found this conversation a little more ridiculous, though he found it stupid already as it was.

It was lunchtime right now and they were eating outside as usual so as to avoid everybody else. Tobi thought it was lucky they had gotten into this habit because it wouldn't be good for Itachi if people heard this conversation.

"The ends don't justify the means."

"What does that even mean, you got what you wanted didn't you?!"

From the look of things, Tobi guessed Itachi and Tobi was in a similar predicament. So he understood.

"That's what you wanted, Hidan."

"I don't see the fucking difference. I did you a damn favor and you're being an ungrateful prick."

"In what world does pretending to be me online, class as a _favor_?"

"It just does! I did what you were too chicken to do. This is the part where you fucking thank me!"

"Okay I will. As soon as you tell me what good it does me."

"Huh?"

"What good does it do me to know that?"

Hidan paused for a moment, seeming to think carefully about his answer.

"Knowledge is power you ungrateful asshole!"

Or not.

"Power to do what?"

"I don't know! I'm only the damn messenger!"

"Yes, bringer of useless information."

"I swear, one day you're gonna thank me for this!"

Itachi sighed, "I doubt it," he said, "just, don't do it again, alright or I'll be forced to hurt you."

And despite the fact that a line had been crossed, Hidan's relentless arguing had defused the situation. Itachi wouldn't take proper action unless he did it again though he seemed to be growing a little more comfortable with the invasion of his privacy, because he was a patient man and understood that normal rules had never really applied to Hidan before.

Itachi was really more the type of guy to keep problem on the inside and dwell on it later when he was alone.

The bell for fifth period rang.

Lunch time had basically been wasted on the argument.

Tobi sighed and disdainfully slipped the mask back on. He had another two hours of this to go.

* * *

_Pein_

Friday was now and officially his favorite day ever.

Lady blue spoke to him…

Wait what? He wasn't some smitten school girl!

Well, yeah she spoke to him. It wasn't just a simple, boring _hello_ either. It was an actual – though basically one-sided – conversation.

He had been packing his books away after English when she came up to him, a playful smile on her face. She said, "Hi. You're the other scholarship student, right?"

Pein had thought about it for a moment – lingering on his answer for no particular reason – before he nodded.

"Pein, right?"

"Yeah."

"You're not very talkative, huh?"

"No it's just that…"

He had never been lost for words before, but this wasn't just a usual situation.

Lady blue had smile, "that's alright. Smart and quiet is more my type anyway. But if you ever do decide you want to talk," she paused to scrawl down a set of numbers on the cover of one of his books – not that he minded – and said, "you can call me."

He stood outside English now, replaying the entire thing in his mind, wary of any tricks she might've played. But there were none; she was completely genuine in every way and…

Wait, had she said _other_ scholarship student?

Wow. He hadn't expected that one.

He smirked down at the number in his hand before folding it and placing it in his pocket.

Well if that girl wanted to play, she was about to get played.

When Pein reached his room, he immediately logged onto the Akatsuki and just as he knew she would be, Konan was online. Sasori and Deidara were as well, talking about their math homework and how idiotic the questions were, but Pein decided he would ignore that.

I_Am_God: I was just in English when this girl came up and talked to me, Konan do you know anything about that one girl with blue hair?

Paper_Princess: not really, I don't think anybody does. How come, what did she say?

I_Am_God: I don't know I wasn't really listening, whatever it was can't have been important so I just nodded and agreed.

Paper_Princess: that seems like a dangerous idea. What if she had been asking for your participation in a devil's threesome?

I_Am_God: that's with two guy's right? But I wouldn't be surprised, she seems like she'd be into weird things like that.

Paper_Princess: really, how can you tell?

I_Am_God: woman's intuition? I don't know, it's just a guy thing.

Paper_Princess: but she was nice, right?

I_Am_God: well she seemed kind of… _easy._ She gave me her number, but I don't think I'll call. Wouldn't want to run the risk of catching something.

Pein internally cringed with every stroke of the keyboard. It wasn't in his nature to speak ill of a woman, especially not in a situation such as this – granted, this was the first time he had been in such a situation but still.

He didn't want to feel like he might be inadvertently hurting her feelings or something like that.

But if that was the price he had to pay to win this _game_ Konan had started, then so be it.

* * *

_Konan_

She stared at the screen as more and more things were written in reply to her carefully thought about questions.

This was _devastating_ – or some word to a lesser effect.

She had really thought that Pein liked her. But apparently not.

And to make it even worse; he thought she was some kind of slut.

How had she even gotten that kind of reputation? Did everybody think that?

She swore she would never leave her room again. Until they kicked her out of the school for skipping classes, that is.

Still, she played it casual, acting like she were only an impartial third part who held no emotional stakes in the conversation. It was helpful that this was online, rather than face to face. She didn't think she'd be able to take those sorts of things face to face.

She would either run away in tears, or punch him. Probably the latter though, because she found as she read his words over and over, that she was more angry then she was upset.

She wondered how Pein would react to finding out the truth. But by now she wasn't sure if she could face him knowing the truth.

She thought about it for a while after Pein had signed off. She had no homework – or none that she hadn't already completed – and was sitting on her bed making colorful origami flowers.

She almost had an entire bouquet by the time the phone rang.

She waited a while before she went to answer, a thousand different bad scenarios running through her talented mind.

"H-hello?" she cursed herself for stuttering upon picking up.

"Sorry, but you didn't give me your name back in English, uh this is Pein, the scholarship kid?" the way he spoke it sounded like he was uncertain if she would remember him at all.

Of course, because he thought she was a whore.

"Uh yeah, I remember. What's up?"

"Well I mean, I know you're supposed to wait like, three days before calling… is it three days? I wouldn't really know. But would you like to go out sometime during the weekend?"

Konan thought about it for a while.

On one hand, she really, _really_ liked him. But on the other, he was probably only talking to her because he thought she was _easy_. So going out with him would be the wrong move in this point of the game. She needed to think of a way to change his mind, before she let things go further.

And not to think about this thing so emotionally.

"Hm I don't know, I think I might be coming down with something. I'll let you know, okay?"

She hung up quickly, not giving him a chance to reply. They both knew she didn't have his number and so she was basically saying that nothing would ever happen between them.

She decided that would be sufficient for now but she had to come up with a better game plan. After all, spring break was coming up and she knew by then that they'd be two of the only people left on campus.

* * *

_Itachi_

Weekends were a bore.

Mainly because during the weekends, Sasuke got more homework which meant he was required to spend more time helping him work it out. And it wasn't simple brotherly obligation either; his mother had often threatened to lock the two of them in there so that they could sort it out.

He could only stare at the painfully blue walls for so long before he started getting sea sick. He wondered momentarily if that was a thing; getting seasick from the colour blue but he snapped out of it quickly, deciding not to let his mind dwell on such useless thoughts.

Hidan was out in the village.

Weekends were the only time Itachi allowed him to leave the compound, other than going to school, so long as he didn't kill anybody while he was out there. At least, not inside the village gates. But beyond there, Konaha law couldn't stop him and neither would Itachi.

"Big brother I don't get it!" Sasuke complained. His hand was in his hair, pulling it up like he did when he was stressing out – Itachi thought it was unfair that an eight year old was stressed – and Itachi thought if this continued, his hair would stay like that forever. It was almost defying gravity.

Itachi sighed, "it's simple Sasuke; factorize fifteen X squared plus fourteen X plus three."

Sure it was simple enough to say, but without cheating, Itachi didn't know how Sasuke was going to pass this class.

"Need help?"

Sasuke looked up when he heard Tobi's voice. He had just been about to run to his cousin's house for help. Tobi was a much better teacher the Itachi, who perhaps displayed too much patience.

"That would be great," Itachi said, relieved that he hadn't had to go to all the trouble of admitting Sasuke needed a second opinion.

Tobi walked into the room, feeling officially invited, and took the paper off of Sasuke's desk where he had been working out his equations.

"Okay I see the problem," he said, looking the questions over carefully, "you're brother's an idiot."

"Excuse me?" Itachi asked, feeling as if he'd heard that wrong.

"You heard me. He's an idiot. If he can't solve a simple problem like this, he must be stupid, there's nothing that can be done. Take it from an expert."

Itachi couldn't believe his ears. He had never witnessed one of Tobi's teaching sessions before and so had nothing to go by. Was this what usually happened?

"Might as well get yourself a box from the supermarket kid, since you'll never amount to anything more than a homeless bum."

Sasuke shook his head and snatched the paper from Tobi's hands.

"Nuh-uh, I can do better. Watch!" and sure enough, his pencil flew across the page faster than Itachi had ever seen, a look of intense concentration marring his young features until… "I'm done!" he handed the paper back to Tobi.

Itachi read over his cousin's shoulder, looking Sasuke's new answer over carefully. It was… right.

Tobi rustled the little Uchiha's hair and placed the paper down, "good work Sasuke, maybe there's still hope for you. Be a good little boy now and finish the rest of these problems while I talk to your brother."

"Okay Tobi I will!" Sasuke promised with all the enthusiasm of a four year old that had just learned to sing the alphabet.

"What was that all about?" Itachi wondered out loud when he and Tobi were a safe distance away from the kid.

"You're brother responds well to insults. I don't know why but it's the only thing that works," Tobi said, shrugging as though this was nothing out of the ordinary. But perhaps to him – somebody who had been successfully teaching Sasuke for three years – it was.

"What are you doing here anyway?"

Tobi hesitated for a moment. Then, "I have a problem. You're the only one I trust around here."

Itachi frowned, "what about Zetsu?"

"He's at home, cleaning my room."

"You make him clean your room?"

Again Tobi shrugged, "well you can't expect me to do it myself. Tobi's scared he might get hurt!" he put on his idiot voice for the end half of his sentence. "Besides, I wanted to come here alone. He can never know we spoke!"

Again, Itachi frowned though this wasn't an uncommon gesture and in fact, the expression was almost set into his skin. He rarely, if _ever_ smiled.

"You're keeping secrets from him now? Since when?"

Because Itachi knew there was nothing those two didn't tell each other. Zetsu had been the second one – Itachi being the first – to figure out Tobi was faking his whole _I'm a complete moron, don't make me do things cause I'll screw them up,_ thing.

"Since he became part of the problem!" Tobi hissed. He looked around carefully, left and right as though there might be spies in his cousin's house, before he continued. "Look, I know I'm already on thin ice with this stupid family, and really it's only a crush but –"

"On _Zetsu?_" Itachi asked, wrinkling his nose.

Tobi pouted; a habit he had developed while under his mask.

"At least we live in the same village!" he yelled quietly.

_Ouch._

"Geez I don't know who's worse off."

"Who cares, we're both doomed to Uchiha hell… hey, I bet we can bring Sasuke down with us!"

Itachi glared, "no you don't, Sasuke's going to grow up to be nice and normal if I have anything to do with it."

"Well you won't if the clan ever finds out your dirty little secret." The Tobi remembered why he was here, "Dammit Itachi just tell me how to make it go away!"

Itachi let out a heavy sigh. He could sympathize with Tobi as he knew how unpleasant it was to care about somebody like that. But from his basic knowledge, it wasn't something you could just wish away.

"Alright Tobi. I'll try to help you but I make no promises."

* * *

_Zetsu_

Throughout the next week – the final week before spring break, he might add – Tobi had been acting weirdly.

He got up even earlier than usual, so that by the time Zetsu woke up to make him breakfast, Tobi was already out the door and heading to Itachi's house. He would always leave without a word, as well, always with that ugly orange mask on before he was even out the door.

He would come home briefly after school, talk to his parents – but noticeably, not to Zetsu – before he took his books and things over to Itachi's house, telling his parents he would probably be staying for dinner.

Then when he came home, Tobi would say barely anything to anybody before either signing into Akatsuki or just going to bed.

Zetsu couldn't think of anything that might be wrong, but then again, Tobi had always been a fairly complicated kid. That was one of the things Zetsu liked about him.

Liked… in a normal way. Totally normal. Yeah...

But when he really thought about it; the entire Akatsuki had been acting sort of weird.

Pein and Konan seemed to be playing a game of cat and mouse that was on permanent loop where neither of them realized they were each chasing a mouse. But nobody else from the Akatsuki spoke up about it; they all found it far too amusing.

Kisame and Itachi were getting really friendly and would talk for hours on end about _literally_ anything under the sun –or sea, considering Kisame found the ocean quite fascinating – but whenever Kisame would try to initiate something more than simple internet friendship, Itachi would clam up and claim he had to be somewhere.

Deidara seemed to be possibly borderline psychotic. He would range from being carefree and flirty – mainly with Sasori – one moment, to being completely dark and depressive the next, before switching to an angrier state and vowing to blow up the entire world and turn it into _quote un-quote: true art,_ whatever that meant.

Then there was Sasori who seemed to be bringing a lot of his home stress onto the page; always complaining about his troublesome cousin's constantly breaking things and causing trouble. Of course that wasn't much out of the ordinary, and neither was the fact that he was ecstatic to be going to Iwa in a couple of days.

And Kakuzu, well he was barely online anymore except – according to Hidan – at insane hours during the night or morning, depending on how you looked at it. Whenever Hidan spoke of him, he always used words like _insomniac_ and _over-worked_. Zetsu wouldn't be too surprised if Kakuzu was just beginning to feel the effects of his parent's death. Either way there was really nothing he or any of them could do about it.

But there _was_ however, something he could do about his problem with Tobi.

Speak of the devil – and he shall appear – Tobi came bounding through the gate, not bothering to remove his mask, he cheered "spring break!"

Zetsu didn't know what he could possibly be so excited about; he wouldn't be getting out of the compound unless Zetsu decided to sneak him out and right now that wasn't looking very likely.

Tobi had been about to rush inside when Zetsu got in his way, stepping lightly in front of the door. Having been tending the garden – as he usually did this time of the day – was a handy advantage in this little game.

"Hey kid, **how was school?**" he asked.

Tobi seemed to sigh right then, in annoyance, before answering cheerfully in that voice he knew Zetsu hated.

"It was _great_ Mr. Zetsu! Since it was the last day, we barely did anything! Tobi and Hidan just sat around making paper planes!"

Zetsu rolled his eyes. He didn't like this feeling of distance between them, nor did he like the way it seemed like Tobi was pulling away.

He wanted it to stop. _Now._

But he had to at least _pretend_ to be calm about it.

**"You've been avoiding me lately,"** he reached out carefully to pull the mask from Tobi's face, knowing that with it gone, the false cheeriness would disappear, "why is that?"

Tobi smirked, looking defiantly into Zetsu's eyes – wait, when had he gotten that tall? "You're very observant, slave," he murmured, "could it be that my behavior actually has an effect on you?"

Zetsu rolled his eyes, "**of course idiot**, you're pretty much the most important thing in my life," he listened to his own words and realized what he had said, "**wait that came out wrong,** I meant to say –"

However, Tobi had heard enough and cut him off quickly, crashing their lips together in a move neither had anticipated but neither was disagreeing with either. Tobi's hands went to Zetsu's shoulders in an effort to steady himself as for all his smarts; he wasn't prepared for something like this. Zetsu was in shock as well but pressed back nonetheless, bringing his hands to rest of Tobi's hips but pulling away when the younger attempted to deepen the kiss.

"What about your parents?" he asked. Not to mention his entire clan, and his village.

Tobi snorted in contempt, "If there was ever a time their opinion matter to me," he said, smirking as he thought how insignificant his parents and entire clan really were, "it's long gone."

* * *

_Sasori_

"Don't go!"

"Please!"

"Be warned, if you leave, there'll be nothing stopping me from killing Kankuro."

Sasori sighed. He knew it was going to be like this. Which was one of the reasons he decided to leave in the first place he stood by the front door with his suitcase beside him, Kankuro holding one and arm Gaara holding the other, both pulling while Temari blocked the door.

"Listen guys, it's not going to be for that long! Now I'm leaving Gaara in charge," he looked at the little red-head, "you'll tell me if Temari kills Kankuro, right?"

Gaara nodded slowly.

"Good and if that happens, I'll wire you some money and we'll move to Iwa."

He turned to his other two cousins, "remember Temari, murder is illegal and Kankuro, sleep with one eye open. Now I'll be back in a week, be good for Granny Chiyo, alright?"

The three children sighed, both boys' releasing Sasori's limbs.

"Alright," they said somewhat dejectedly.

"Good. I'm going to Iwa now. I love you all, unless somebody gets murdered, then I hate you all."

With those parting words, he walked out the door, trying to savor the moment and not hurry.

This was it. He was going to Iwa.

His insatiable desire to see Deidara would finally be satisfied.

And he would get to be away from his cousins for an entire week.

He thought this was sure to be the best Spring Break ever.

* * *

**gawd i'm sorry if anybody got bored due to the size of that... D': but i wanted to include more P.O.V's then i usually do...**


	8. Eight

**I have been working on a new SasoDei story (maybe it'll be DeiSaso.. is there a preference?) that's current name is ****_Something To Do With Dragons._**** i'm really excited about it.. we were having an argument in History and my teacher flat out said "nope, dragons aren't real, neither are Taniwha (that's a maori mythilogical creature. for those who don't know, Maori are the people of new zealand. i am Maori.) and i was like ****_screw you, i'm gonna make a yaoi to prove you fucking wrong!_**

**anyways.. sort of.. well stuuf happens in this one guys. yeah and shit is about to go down. trust me.**

**Disclaimer:ya know, maybe i do own this... i write enough about it to.. but sadly i do not.**

* * *

_Chapter eight – Sasori_

He got off the train that connected Suna and Iwa, right in the heart of the village. Many people were crowded around the station, boarding trains to other villages or getting off to go out into this one. Iwa as well known for having the largest station and was in fact the only village with trains that travelled to every other village. Even Kiri, which was a bit of a feat considering its location.

He didn't have to look very long before he saw a smiling blonde waving him over, wearing a smile that couldn't possibly reach his eyes. He was dressed in a thick hoodie that hid any shape his body might've had, despite it being spring, his hair was down as well, leaving barely any skin visible to the eye. It was almost as if Sasori _wasn't_ seeing him.

"Hey brat, you look like a girl," he said teasingly, unable to shake the feeling that something wasn't right.

Deidara maintained his smile, "people leave me alone when I look this way," he said.

People?

Specific people or just people in general?

Sasori didn't know what to think about that and so he decided he wouldn't. He was here to mock other people's art, not to worry about the brat. He was just happy that he was here. In Iwa. With Deidara right there, standing in front of him, tangible and everything.

"The Iwa Arts Center is sort of far from home so I took advantage of the fact that the program offers free accommodation, un," he seemed more cheerful as he said that.

"Isn't that for travellers?" Sasori questioned.

"Un, who cares? Iwa is a big place and if a little lie gets me out of home for a week, un, it's really not that much a price to pay."

Sasori frowned, "seriously brat, tell me you're not in trouble or anything like that."

Deidara smiled brightly – but still, it was clearly false – and said, "Of course not Danna, un!"

They had left the station by now and stepped into the spring sunlight, much less intense then the deserts bright glare. The ground wasn't loose and grainy but instead was solid and hard. And, despite the season, he found it quite cold; sort of like a winter's night in Suna. He figured it must be because of all the tress, casting misshapen, monstrous shadows everywhere and picking up a light breeze.

There weren't many trees in Suna, and there wasn't much wind either. It was a desert after all and therefore was hot and dry. Except during storms.

The architecture here was different as well; wherein Suna the buildings were rather round, and had a sandy texture, the buildings here in Iwa were all a monotonous grey, hard as stone and pointed, they were straighter and honestly odd looking.

Sasori found it hard to decide whether or not he liked it here.

"Cold, un?" Deidara's voice broke the silence that had spawned between them while Sasori took in his surroundings. He was smirking at the red head who hadn't noticed his own slight shiver. "I suppose this is quite different to what you're used to, un?"

"Yeah you could say that, I guess," Sasori said. "I probably wouldn't survive in Kiri. I heard it snows a lot there."

"Yeah un, and their summers are like Konaha winters, un."

Strange. Winters in Suna were like Konaha summers, or so Sasori had heard.

"Anyways un, we should go back to the center so you can register and drop your stuff off un, then I can show you around Iwa!"

"I heard Iwa isn't a very interesting place."

"Oh it isn't un, in fact the only thing we have that's even _slightly_ interesting are our waterfalls. But the program doesn't officially begin until five so we've got plenty of time to waste."

* * *

_Kisame_

Spring Break. Spring, what even _was_ that?

He heard in normal villages like Konaha, spring was the season where leaves and flowers began to sprout on trees and all the rain and clouds cleared up. However in Kiri, spring was hen the rain came along to melt the snow.

He wanted to go to Konaha. So that he could see the flowers and the trees and the lakes and the _sun_.

But he figured the only time it would be cold enough for him to go to Konaha, would be in the winter.

Plus, he got the feeling that if he went to Konaha right now, Itachi might take it the wrong way.

Something was strange about him.

Though it was no secret by now to either party, the way Kisame felt, sometimes he thought maybe Itachi was unsure of how _he_ felt. Either that or… well despite the fact that he had been going to school, Kisame had barely gotten any smarter and therefore only had a limited imagination when it came to coming up for reasons behind these types of things.

Although, he _had_ been doing well in school lately. He was able to do all of the work, with Haku's help of course and occasionally with Itachi's. He was getting better at reading and writing, but was struggling with math, as he found a few other Akatsuki members did. He was glad though, that he decided to go to school.

However, with most of the students having left for spring break, Kisame found himself alone in his room, watching the streets begin to flood.

Haku was still around but he wasn't much of a social person and Kisame couldn't go back to his outer world life since the swordsmen had gone off to the land of waves to take care of a few things.

He couldn't go anywhere, which sucked.

So he logged onto the Akatsuki page to see if anybody else was having no fun at all. And as it turned out, someone was.

Itachi_Uchiha: it's only been a day and I already miss school. Tell me I'm not the only one.

Shark_Bait: don't worry you're not. Don't you have a family to keep you entertained though?

Itachi_Uchiha: entertained isn't the right word. And besides, Tobi got snuck out of the compound and Sasuke's out playing with his friends.

Shark_Bait: you're not allowed to leave the compound? And what happened to Hidan?

Itachi_Uchiha: technically I _am_ but I choose not to since everyone thinks I'm some kind of freaky genius. And Hidan is thankfully, nowhere to be found.

Shark_Bait: you can't deny the fact that you're a genius; it's a gift not a curse, right?

Itachi_Uchiha: that's what they say but I disagree sometimes. It treats me like a curse. What about you, what's stopping you from enjoying your spring break?

Kisame thought briefly about writing _the fact that we're in different villages,_ but it seemed like that was one of those things which weren't really a good idea. And so he didn't, much as he wanted to be completely honest.

Shark_Bait: we don't really have spring here. It's rainy as all hell and as much as I like the water, I hate the rain.

Itachi_Uchiha: that's odd. I rather like the rain. You should come to Konaha; it's nothing but clear skies and sunshine here.

Shark_Bait: was that an invitation or a passing suggestion?

Itachi_Uchiha: you could see it as either I guess, I'm bored enough not to care anyway. And maybe if you come here, you could convince Hidan to leave with you.

Shark_Bait: hell no, I'm not taking him with me! Don't you know why nobody else wanted to take him in?

Itachi_Uchiha: no but I have a fair idea.

Shark_Bait: he's a wanted criminal! In Yuga and the lands of lightening and rivers!

Itachi_Uchiha: what, that can't be right!

Shark_Bait: for all you're book smarts, you really are too trusting, aren't you?

Itachi_Uchiha: alright, are you coming to Konaha or what? I didn't invite you for nothing you know.

Shark_Bait: but it's _raining!_

Itachi_Uchiha: if you take the train, you'll be in Konaha by tonight.

Shark_Bait: hold on I don't think you heard me correctly. It's _raining!_

Itachi_Uchiha has logged off.

Kisame could really only smile, as now it seemed he had something to do with his Spring Break.

* * *

Konan

It had been a while since her little stunt though she hadn't seemed to change Pein's mind about her real body and the track record that came with it. not through the Akatsuki page _or_ from her own mouth.

Now that it was Spring Break and she had exhausted all of her other plans and options – not to mention having played with her own heart – she thought maybe now it was time to call it quits.

After all, she had played a good game, won a lot of the small battles and there was no harm in giving in now. No she could only hope that Pein's opinion of her – or her body at least – didn't linger even after she revealed her real face.

And she thought even if it did, she could always stay in her dorm until Spring Break ended and pretend like it had never happened.

It was sunny outside. That gave her a sort of confidence to carry out her plot less plan.

She was one of the only students left in the dorms as most other people had rich, loving families to return to.

She went online. He was there as well; just her luck.

Paper_Princess: are you busy?

I_Am_God: not at all.

Paper_Princess: good. I want to meet you. I'm sick of this game alright?

I_Am_God: alright, sure. When and where?

* * *

_Pein_

He didn't know how he was going to explain this; that he had known all along – or at least half the time – that Konan was lady blue?

He still felt bad about hurting her feelings – hurting them bad enough to make her retreat in her own game, at least.

But as he made his way to the center of the quad and saw Konan already standing there, he knew exactly what needed to be done.

She was standing there, looking nervous, and looking around every few seconds. Her eyes said _this was a mistake_, beneath the layers of pretty liquid amber. Her blue hair had caught in the wind and was whipping around like a halo of some sort. It might sound cliché but she looked like an angel.

He went up to her, tapping her shoulder without hesitation and said, "hey Konan," with a close eyed smile, which were actually kind of awkward in real life.

Konan looked confused for a few moments, appearing to do the math in her head she said, "ah, you figured it out."

"Yeah, but I mean, you started the game so we're even right?"

She seemed to think about it – like _seriously_ think about it – for a moment before out of nowhere – or perhaps out of everywhere, he couldn't tell – she punched him. Hard.

Then she smiled as if nothing had happened and she hadn't just possibly broken his nose and said, "Yup. We're even now."

Smart, beautiful _and_ vindictive with a few drops of crazy mixed it. This girl was _awesome._

"Ooh that looks bad!" she said, when Pein moved his hand from his nose, covered in blood while the red liquid was still gushing out. She took his hand and began to pull, "come-on, let's get you to the nurses office!"

* * *

_Deidara_

He had shown Sasori most of Iwa though it was true, his home village wasn't very interesting at all. And _somehow_ Sasori didn't have a sweet tooth so stopping for dango about six times really didn't help the quality of the tour, but that didn't matter as both had had enough fun simply being in the others company.

Then they had gone to the beginning of what would be a five day art program. Today had only been about introductions to the tutors, and to the other artists, all of whom Sasori and Deidara had had a great deal of fun mocking and intimidating. They hadn't spoken to many people, though the ones who were brave enough to approach them, had left quickly, likely out of fear.

Suffice it to say Deidara wasn't very nice and Sasori's negative attitude towards almost everyone else there, really didn't help.

They were back at their room now. It was a single room with bunk beds squeezed in. Sasori had insisted on sleeping on top and Deidara had agreed since he was prone to rolling in his sleep.

As for right now, he stood in the bathroom, staring into a mirror.

It had been a while since he had taken a shower without a lingering inexplicable _fear_. But now that the moment of bliss caused by a mixture of hot water and strawberry scented conditioner, was over, he stood staring into the mirror. Having already gotten his pants on, he had reached for his shirt when he got side-tracked by the foggy slab of glass he hadn't noticed before and made the mistake of wiping it clean.

Deidara hated seeing himself in the mirror. Shirtless or otherwise, he found himself ugly. Ugly and broken and scarred.

His sopping wet hair dragged down his shoulder, trailing lines of water down his body.

Form here he could get a perfect view of bruises running up and down his chest and the finger-marks that might as well be tattooed on his hips as those bruises seemed so dark they would never heal, never mind the marks, scratches, scars and bruises he couldn't even see but still hated. Then there were his arms, riddled with finger marks, odd scratches, imprints from fingernails and lines and lines of self-inflicted wounds. He felt sick.

Like something was wrong with him.

Like he could kill himself right now.

No, like he could blow up the entire world right now, just so that he didn't have to go back to _that_.

He didn't want... he _couldn't!_

Nuh-uh. _No!_

_Smash!_

Blood trickled down the wall as pieces of the broken mirror fell away. His fist was bleeding but the mirror was shattered. So the blood really didn't matter right now.

"Brat, are you alright?"

Dammit, he had forgotten he wasn't alone!

"Y-yeah Danna, un. I'm f-fine."

"You're lying. I'm coming in there brat so you better be dressed."

Deidara had been about to protest – as he still hadn't been able to locate his shirt – but before he could say another word, the door was opened and he heard that small, unmistakable intake of air that was Sasori gasping. In shock, horror, disgust. Proving Deidara's previous theories; he was an ugly, broken, disgusting creature.

And now, he would be alone.


	9. Nine

**I'm on report at school (i'm such a bad ass xD) that's sort of like probation, i think? anyways, if i suddenly stop updating, assume that my parents have found out and killed me.**

**i think i might step up the rating... due to smex... because i feel the story calls for it... uh... any objections should be given at this point or you can just deal with it ^^**

**Disclaimer:dont.**

* * *

_Chapter nine –Sasori_

Upon entering the bathroom, the first thing his eyes saw was a mess of purple and red along the brats back. Bruises and cuts filled the bare patch of skin, creating a distorted macabre picture of pain and isolation.

At first he was stunned and neither of them said a word. The brat had gone rigid, as though waiting for a string of harsh words or insults to be thrown his way. Blood was pouring down the wall where his fist remained, having shattered the mirror in a possible attempt to get away from his own image.

"What the hell brat?" Sasori was finally able to ask, still in the doorway, not able to move at all.

Deidara laughed a quiet, bitter laugh. "Danna un, you're acting like you've never seen blood before."

Oh, he had seen blood before but never like this. Usually on the scraped knee of his youngest cousin or the knuckles of his oldest – which was usually followed by some sort of nasty cut or bruise on his middle cousin's face but that was beside the point.

"The blood isn't really what I'm worried about," Sasori said quietly.

They stood there in silence for a while longer until finally after what seemed like an eternity to him – and not in a good way – he gathered up the strength to move. He stepped into the bathroom, approaching the other who was still frozen in place; he reached out slowly, his fingers gently moving blonde locks out of the way to get a better look at the damage.

There was one, long scar that seemed to be the center of everything; around that it was a disarray of bruises and scratches, some new and some almost gone. He ran his fingers down one almost healed cut that went down from Deidara's shoulder, causing the blonde to snap out of it, pulling away slightly, he arched out of Sasori's touch.

"T-that hurts," he murmured.

So in other words, _don't do that._

"you lied," Sasori said lightly, taking a step back, having not realized he was so close while attempting to get a better look at the brat's wounds.

And in response, Deidara turned around, leaning back against the sink with a bitter smirk marring his face and revealing the extra marks all over the rest of his body, especially on his arms. It seemed all false happiness was gone from his expression and behavior, which could be seen as either good or bad.

"Un, sometimes I lie, Danna," he said.

"You should never lie to me, brat. And how did this happen anyway?" he pointed at the layers of cuts up and down the blondes arms; "these look self-inflicted."

"Maybe they are, it's not like you really care anyway un, so spare me you're pity. I don't need it un!"

Sasori frowned. Where had that come from? Usually Deidara had mood swings like that when he was online but Sasori had no idea why he would think he didn't care. Because he did, more then he probably should. Enough to make this very sight painful, _literally_. He had to fight down that scary urge deep down inside to find out why this had happened, and kill all parties responsible. He wasn't a murderer, and he couldn't be because that would be hypocritical and a basic free pass for Temari to kill her brother.

That wasn't what he came here to accomplish.

"It's not pity brat, its concern and before you start; they're not the same thing," he growled, "so why don't you get over yourself and tell me how this happened?"

"It won't make any difference," Deidara told him, rather bitterly. "There's nothing you can do about it anyway, un."

He really _was_ being difficult today.

And all Sasori wanted in that moment was to take his troubles away. Erase his memory maybe?

But since that wasn't scientifically possible, he'd have to settle with listening. Perhaps sharing the burden would lessen the pain?

"Well brat, all I can promise is that I'll try."

* * *

_Tobi_

It was nighttime in Konaha.

He wondered if his parents had noticed he wasn't in the compound and if they'd worried.

He doubted both.

Because if he wasn't at home, his parents still firmly believed that Tobi would be a good little boy and stay within the boundaries of the compound.

He liked sneaking out with Zetsu.

Nobody out in the village had seen his real face and so he didn't have to worry about being recognized by anybody and besides, most of the Uchiha's stayed in the compound as well when not at work.

He hated them all.

And he hated Konaha.

But he enjoyed being there with Zetsu. And okay, so his cousins weren't so bad, but he hated the rest of it.

And he hated being Tobi. He hated being stupid but he didn't want to be smart.

It was quite a dilemma really.

But silly problems like that didn't matter during Spring Break.

No school, no homework, no expectations, nope it was just two weeks where he got to _live!_

"Come-on, let's go see what Itachi's doing!" he insisted, feeling the effects of what seemed like two tons of sugar with no added carbs to absorb it, running through his body, causing an idiotic Tobi effect minus the idiot part.

He enjoyed sugar rushes though often found their aftermath – headaches, nausea, hunger and a quick crash – to be a source of regret, despite his intelligence, he never seemed to remember the bad side of it right when he was about to eat that first sugary sweet.

Zetsu sighed, resigning himself to the fact that he'd have to deal with sugar-high Tobi for the next thirty minutes or so, and so he let himself be dragged through the compound gates, towards Itachi's home.

They also needed to tell the older Uchiha that his brother was staying at a friend's house that night.

When they were halfway there, they were stopped by the familiar sound of running and son caught up by Hidan.

"Heading home?" he asked, completely out of breath.

"Sort of," Zetsu said.

"We're going to visit Itachi!" Tobi announced.

"It's only us here kid, you don't have to do that here," Hidan said. He was thoroughly annoyed by Tobi's moron act.

Zetsu sighed, "He's sugar high," he said. **"Where have you been all day?"**

Hidan shrugged, "around. Only came back because my stupid phone needs fucking charging," he took it out quickly and examined it, "only one bar left. I charged the damn thing last night!"

They continued on their walk. It was late and so Mikoto would be asleep by now and Zetsu hoped they weren't going to accidently wake her. They were just lucky the father hadn't come back yet. Maybe he was experiencing trouble in the land of lightening? But when it came down to it, none of them really cared, especially not Tobi who, once again, hated his clan.

When they finally reached their destination, they were expecting to find a dark, seemingly deserted house, doors locked and bolted, windows closed and no signs of life coming from within. And to be fair, that _is_ what they saw, with a slight altercation.

The door was closed and possibly even locked, sure, but the main thing they noticed about it was that Itachi was pressed against it, arms around the neck of a man who seemed _blue –_ although Tobi thought maybe that was the moonlight – lip-locked with that same man, who almost resembled a _shark._

Beside Tobi – who had suddenly decided the sugar had worn off – Hidan started cackling like a mad old witch and quickly snapped a picture with his conveniently placed phone.

* * *

_Itachi_

He wasn't the type of person to simply go around kissing anybody, you could ask any number of people and they were bound to respond by saying he was so reserved – although many might also use the term _stuck-up_ – and that's what made this situation so bad.

He had gone to the train station around eight, as he had calculated that that was the time his friend would arrive and things just spawned from there.

He hadn't expected Kisame to be _blue_ nor did he expect him to look quite the way that he did, but it didn't deter Itachi, nor did it extinguish those strange feelings he had been having, and he didn't know how to feel about that, but he knew he didn't feel bad for liking Kisame – yes, upon meeting him, Itachi had decided his feelings were real.

Itachi offered to show him around, although the village was a rather unsavory place at night, but Kisame had insisted he wanted to see the compound more than anything else in this village – though he wasn't objecting to a tour in the morning.

Itachi had brought him to the compound, shown him around, intending to end the tour at his own home and before he knew it, he was pressed against his own front door. Then Tobi got there and interrupted.

He wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not.

He wasn't embarrassed or anything.

He didn't think he should be as he certainly hadn't been doing anything wrong – well, depending who you asked – so he just stared on impassively at his cousin, his somewhat friend, and Hidan.

Kisame looked a little uncomfortable although one would be, he supposed, in the presence of three strangers.

"Take a picture Hidan, it'll last longer," Itachi said monotonously.

Hidan cackled again, "I did!" he exclaimed, waving his phone around like a precious prize.

Knowing one name, Kisame smiled slightly, exposing sharp teeth, "so you're Hidan?"

"Yup. And you're Kisame." A statement, not a question, "you can thank me anytime, Itachi."

The look in Itachi's eyes straight after that sentence, told Hidan that if he opened his mouth again in the next hour, he would suffer a long, painful death.

"Hi Kisame, I'm Tobi!" Tobi waved, deciding his rush was back.

Kisame nodded, "and that would make you Zetsu?"

The plant man just nodded.

"Wow, it really doesn't get any less awkward then this, does it?"

Itachi sighed, "Give it a little time," he said, "come-on, I'll show you to your room. You'll probably have to explain to my mum why you're here in the morning but if that idiot could do it, I'm sure it won't be a problem for you," Itachi gestured towards Hidan loosely as he began to unlock the door.

Hidan didn't mind though. He was just happy that Itachi was making progress with his speaking since they first met. If anybody ever said annoying people wasn't a suitable form of teaching, they were dead wrong.

* * *

_Deidara_

He woke up with a headache but was strangely warm and at peace.

He felt two warm arms around him and shifted, only to have them tighten around him.

Then it all came back to him.

How Sasori had seen his scars.

How he had been forced to tell Sasori all about his problems, the many, many ways he had been abused by his older brother and others – many others. The way he had begun to build up walls so he wouldn't get hurt by the people around him anymore. He talked about how he had put his trust into people, so many people and in the end was just let down. He explained how he had begun cutting himself with a small incident that had almost resulted in his death, he even attempted to explain the way it _felt_ when he cut himself; like a release from everything.

He didn't cry though, that was the important thing, well one of the important things anyway.

He broke things. He yelled. He screamed. He sat on the floor howling with laughter during times – which he was sure had freaked Sasori out – he even threatened to blow the world up, but he hadn't cried. He figured that was the one wall of crazy that was never going to crumble.

And right now, he felt that feeling deep down inside.

That sick feeling that told him to go home.

If he didn't go home, something bad was going to happen.

He had to go home right now. He didn't need his things, he hadn't brought much anyway and it wouldn't be much to leave behind.

He needed to go home. Right now.

_Right now!_

He sat up slowly, attempting not to wake Sasori up though he had a lot of experience with maneuvers such as this. He got out of bed and slipped his shoes on, casting one last look at Sasori.

He really did feel bad for leaving him here like this but he looked so peaceful, red-hair hanging over his closed eyes, mouth slightly open, hands grasping at the pillow, arms reaching out lightly for the blonde that was no longer there.

He was probably better without this particular burden so early in the morning.

Deidara knew he had set the alarm so they'd be awake in time for the next portion of the program, so he turned it off before rushing out.


	10. Ten

**Sorry for not updating in a while (like, two or three days? whatevs) and just so ya know, i didn't get caught on report. i was busy... reading You're My Love Prize in Viewfinder... f!cking hell i love that sh!t! and i got so caught up in that plus a minor case of writers block... and also sorry for this sort of filler chapter but i will continue regular updates from now, and after this, shit is about to go down.**

* * *

_Chapter Ten – Sasori_

He woke to an empty room and to the sound of somebody knocking at the door. He closed his eyes and buried his head in his pillow for a moment, not quite ready to get up. There was a faint lingering smell of strawberries that seemed out of place.

"come-in," he called out when the knocking continued. He thought he was in Suna and that Gaara or Kankuro needed refuge from Temari.

The door opened.

A throat was cleared.

Words spoken.

He had missed class.

_Class? Class!_

Where was Deidara? Had he gone without him? His stuff was still in the room but it felt different. His alarm had been turned off. The girl had obviously come to scold both of them…

"Dammit!"

He was either unaware from that point on or uncaring that the girl from his class was still there. Watching him have an internal – or perhaps not so – freak out.

He got out of bed quickly, a billion thoughts running through his mind at once as he slid on his shoes.

The brat was being abused. He was scared to go home but he was more afraid of being somewhere else and being alone. He didn't want to be alone and so he chose to go back, time after time. Though Deidara had suggested maybe he didn't _chose_ but instead the suggestion was hardwired into his brain. He spoke the night before about a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, that he needed to constantly be where he belonged. And if he didn't go home…

That was where he had gone; there was no doubt in Sasori's mind.

But he didn't know anything about Iwa.

He would only get lost looking for somebody who didn't even want his help.

Deidara hadn't once said he needed help.

He said things like; _I wish things could've been different un, _or, _I don't want to do this anymore, every again un, but everyday I'm alive I know I don't have a choice._

He had already resigned himself to this fate. There was simply no fight left in him.

Sasori could certainly see now why the brat had _needed somebody_, and he had been fully prepared to be that _somebody_ but now…

He sighed, halfway out the door before walking back in and slamming it shut.

"Are you alright?"

He remembered there was a girl in the middle of his room. She was one of the ones who hadn't been brave enough to approach the two of them, the other night. No wonder she was brave enough to come here now.

"I'll be fine," he murmured. At the same time, he was grabbing his laptop out of his bag. It was the only way he knew of to reach Deidara.

"Did you like, lose something?" the girl tried again.

"More like some_one_. You're not from Iwa by any chance, are you?"

"Sorry, I'm from Kiri. I take it you're not a local either?"

"Unfortunately not."

Sasori quickly logged onto the Akatsuki page only to find that nobody else was on.

All out having lives, he supposed.

He logged off.

The brat's bag was right there. He could go through it and hope to find something of use. Or he could go to the next session and just hope that Deidara would come back. Though he was more likely to stay locked in his room for the rest of Spring Break and it was unlikely that Sasori would hear from him again. He would probably quit the Akatsuki now that Sasori knew what had been happening to him.

God this was so _frustrating!_

"Class starts up again in like, five minutes. Are you coming?" the girl asked.

He didn't like it but Sasori knew there was nothing more he could do at this point.

"Alright then, let's go."

* * *

_Itachi_

He had to look after the kids.

And it was days like this that he was thankful that he managed to build up enough patience over the years, not to hit or otherwise harm annoying children.

Because it wasn't just his little brother, but his friends as well which included an obnoxiously loud blonde named Naruto and a know-it-all girl with pink hair, Sakura.

Between the three of them, Itachi didn't know who was worse. He didn't disapprove of Sasuke having friends per se, but were these really the right ones? Surely there were better, smarter eight year olds out there? And if not, at least there must be better behaved ones; preferably who didn't look like the next president of the Uchiha Fangirl Club, like pinky did.

Of course that seemed a little too much to ask for.

This was _Konaha_ after all.

And he thought, if these were the people Sasuke chose to associate with, then he really had no place trying to change that.

Itachi had managed to rope Kisame into helping him watch the children so it wasn't as bad as he had initially thought. Kisame was surprisingly good with kids and _surprisingly_ good with Sasuke who usually didn't get along with anybody new.

Despite the children initial fright at seeing the unusual way he looked, Kisame even seemed to brighten Itachi's mood considerably, though it would only be noticeable to people like Sasuke, who were used to his way of expressing things.

They worked in a tour of Konaha, rather than staying within the compound and although it seemed awfully hot and dry, Kisame seemed to enjoy the large city-like village of Konaha with so many nice people, random stores here and there, kids running around after each other and parents in turn running around after them. It was like some odd kind of movie featuring the perfect world.

Though Itachi assured him this was only the surface and under it all, Konaha was a dark place full of bad people.

Of course Kisame didn't believe him and Itachi hadn't expected to be believed so it didn't matter anyway.

They spent a lot of time at the various food stores around the village as it seemed Kisame had no interest in seeing anything else, unless Konaha had an ocean, which it didn't, and by the end of the day, when it was dark and time to take the children home – back to parents who were probably glad to have a day without them – Itachi was left with barely any money.

He didn't mind though; it wasn't as if he had anything to spend it on anyway.

The only important thing in his life that needed money was college and that was already paid for, by his education conscious clan. Lucky people like Tobi, however, either had to pay their own way or not go at all.

They took Sakura home first, as she lived furthest from the compound. Sasuke spared little more than a nod in her direction though that didn't surprise Itachi; for all her interest in him, Sasuke was eight and therefore had no interest in such things.

Or so he thought.

But then they took Naruto home and that was something else entirely.

They stood outside his gate for about three minutes – well, Itachi and Kisame did – while Sasuke and Naruto stumbled around an awkward goodbye before – and this was the kicker – Naruto planted a chaste, eight-year-old innocence kiss on Sasuke's cheek before rushing inside.

Sasuke looked down at his feet, a red blush coloring his skin.

Itachi groaned. "Tobi was right," he said, "we're all doomed."


	11. Eleven

**Okay. everything that happens in this chapter will be backed-up and explained in the next chapter. i am sorry if anyone gets confused, this is just the way things have to be sooooo...**

**Enjoy :D**

* * *

_Chapter Eleven – Konan_

Spring Break was a happy blur of trying to find the time to sign onto the Akatsuki page, and not really caring because she had a friend in real life.

Of course she hadn't forgotten about Akatsuki, no she didn't think that was a possibility at all, but she found herself so preoccupied with trying to get to know Pein, that she didn't have time for much else.

She found it amazing how it seemed they had lived the same life of poor, isolated orphan genius who rode by on scholarships and the like to all the best schools. The way they talked, she felt as though she'd finally found somebody who could understand her which she found so incredibly rare that she barely even believed it at first. But within the first week, it was like he was finishing all of her stories, because he knew exactly how it felt to be alone and poor in a rich man's world.

Neither of them realized until school started back up again, that they had fallen into the middle of a comfortable relationship, initiated not by an act of physical affection, but by a mutual need for somebody and an unspoken understanding that the feelings were there on each side but didn't necessarily need to be expressed.

And it seemed like even school had become a nicer place now that they had each other. Neither found themselves in an awkward situation anymore, alone and surrounded by people who didn't want them there. They had each other and that way, it was like nobody else in Ame high school mattered.

They held hands in the hall, sat together in class and studied together in school. It seemed like having somebody be there for you in your real, everyday life, made all that loneliness shrink away.

Of course, Konan still couldn't help but sign on to the Akatsuki page every now and then.

She knew all about what had happened in Iwa – in fact, she had very nearly gone there immediately after she heard – but she also knew, just as well as Sasori and the others did, that there was really nothing she could do at this point. What was more, Deidara had left his laptop and phone with Sasori, so there was no way at all to contact him or to find out where he was.

Itachi had been having moral dilemmas of a sort, not a lot to worry about really, though Konan had spent an excessive amount of time assuring him that you can't help the way you're born.

Seriously, there was something wrong with that boy for sure.

All Hidan ever really did was bitch about how he hated Konaha and how he didn't want to move to Kiri with Kisame because it was fucking cold. He had also taken to asking if he could stay in Ame for a while, promising not to leave the dorms if Konan would take him in, but he was more often than not ignored.

Tobi wasn't on very often, neither was Zetsu but when they were, Tobi would spend his time brushing up on his act. Konan found him interesting from a psychological perspective and would've liked to look deeper into his… strange condition. Of course she knew his motives on the surface but she wanted to know if there was anything beneath that driving him to do those things.

And Itachi as well. She wanted to know why he had taken the opposite path, rather than following in his cousins footsteps.

Konan was planning to go into psychology anyway so she thought they'd be the perfect brains to pick.

Perhaps Hidan as well, but that seemed rather unlikely.

Sasori hadn't been on a lot. Whenever he was though, he would curse at Deidara, who couldn't possibly hear or see the words, but Konan guessed it was some sort of stress relief.

She felt sorry for him. Not that she'd ever say that out loud though.

And Kakuzu, well he was beginning to recover from his momentary lapse in visiting the page. It seemed his parents death had affected him more than he had let on but Konan showed him no pity at all. Because she knew that wasn't what he needed; all he really needed was a smooth, easy initiation back into the land of the living. Where the normal people were. And that's all she gave him.

All in all, her pseudo family was doing… terrible. A mixture of emotional immaturity, psychological dysfunctions and stressful indecision. And she hadn't even heard from Deidara since the beginning of the break. She didn't even know if he was still alive, which troubled her.

But they were still a family, and all these unresolved problems were just evidence of this fact, in her mind. They would sort themselves out.

Yes, she told herself this time and time again but still, couldn't help worrying about what might become of the people she cared most about.

Even if it was senseless to care about people she didn't know. How was she to stop?

_Knock, Knock._

A distraction, right when she was thinking way too much about things. Perfect.

"One moment," she called. She knew it was Pein anyway; it was Wednesday and they had English together first period.

It was raining again and so she grabbed a jacket before she went to the door.

Yeah, the first rain of spring, it was supposed to clear the path for a new beginning; a new life, a new start.

_Hopefully, things will be better this time around._

* * *

_Tobi_

He hated school.

He hated it so damn much.

He hated the teachers who patronized them and he hated the childish responses he was forced to give. He hated the way Hidan would laugh at him for just taking it like a little bitch and he hated the way that he couldn't hit Hidan in front of all those people. He also hated the way that being _Tobi_ extinguished most of his anger by the sheer cheerfulness he was forced to display and he hated the way the teachers were always so surprised when he handed in his homework the next day and it _didn't_ look like a three year old had written it.

He didn't hate the disappointment or the forgotten expectations though. No that was one thing he enjoyed about being stupid.

He _loved_ letting his family down. He relished in that sad, disappoint, _disgusted_ look his parents gave him all the time. It was enough that Itachi had once accused him of being some kind of masochist. But Tobi didn't think it was masochistic to enjoy being the biggest let down of his _great_ clan.

He thought it was merely some extreme form of stubbornness.

Not to digress or anything.

The point was that Tobi _hated_ school.

And yet he would've _lived_ there, for three years on end, only leaving once every six months to collect a blue pebble from the lake, if only he could've stopped what happened on Wednesday night.

His life had been _perfect_.

No expectations, no pressure, no stress. Nothing but easy sailing until…

_Knock, knock!_

"Oi, Tobi let me in!"

Tobi rolled his eyes, thanking which ever _merciful_ god was watching over them, that Hidan had at least neglected to swear. He had been doing a lot less swearing since Itachi's father had come home. Really, if anybody ever though Itachi was bad, they'd have to meet his father before they could fully understand the meaning of the word.

From what Tobi gathered, it hadn't exactly been easy for Hidan to lie his way into continuing to stay here but he had done it. Tobi guessed it was years of experience on his side.

"Nobody's home!" Tobi called out loudly from where he was, sitting in the TV room with his father and _pretending_ to do his already done homework.

"Tobi dammit, quit the act and let me in!"

Tobi froze, sensing the frown on his father's face without having to look back. He murmured, "Act? What is he talking about Tobi?"

"Tobi doesn't know father," Tobi said immediately, "Tobi will go and find out!"

He got up quickly and rushed to the door, past his mother in the kitchen who was also looking slightly confused and past Zetsu who had clearly came to the same conclusion; that if they didn't shut Hidan up right _now_ something bad was going to happen.

But before either of them could reach the door, the last sentence was uttered, officially ending life as Tobi knew it.

"Hurry-up dipshit, I need your help with my homework! Itachi's too damn busy and Sasuke doesn't know anything about physics!"

Tobi froze right where he was, right at that moment, leaving Zetsu to answer the door though it was really no use now.

Hidan's words rang through the house, echoing off of the walls like some sort of bad dream that could only possibly be remembered as sound.

Tobi could only think thoughts of murder beneath the thoughts that dwelled on the surface, of his parents suddenly coming to the realization that they hadn't spawned the first idiot Uchiha and beneath more thoughts of how cold it was going to be when he was forced to move to Kiri boarding school, and all the advanced classes and extra curriculum he'd have to do just to make up for the way his mind had been neglected for the last seventeen years.

"Tobi?" he didn't flinch when he heard his mother speak, as he'd known she was there, staring at him, perhaps like she'd never seen him before. These were the words he'd been dreading his entire life; the conversation he wished he's never have to have. "Is there… something you'd like to say?"

She looked almost hopeful and Tobi knew he was sunk.

He gave her a disarming smile, eyes widened in that idiotically innocent way he had practiced so often in the mirror, while taking out his phone and texting behind his back.

If he had any hope of staying in the village now, he needed immediate help.

* * *

_Itachi_

He was at the dinner table when he got the text from Tobi.

_Emergency dude, Code P, I swear if you're internet friend says one more word I'm going to rip his tongue out and use it to strangle him to death!_

Wow. Tobi usually didn't talk like that. He must've been mad.

Then Itachi read again.

_Code P_.

Oh crap.

That was what they decided to call it in the unlikely event that Tobi's parents figured out what was really going on. Well unlikely wasn't really the right word to use anymore, was it?

"Itachi, is everything alright?" Mikoto asked, smiling kindly at her son.

"Yeah, everything's fine," he lied. It seemed lying was becoming a natural thing to him now. "But I need to be somewhere, may I be excused?"

"Of course," Mikoto said brightly. She understood after all, what was going on, probably better then she should but it was mother's intuition, or at least that was the only explanation that seemed to make sense.

So Itachi stood, taking his time to get to the door of the house and once he was outside, he ran.

Tobi couldn't go to Kiri. He _couldn't_.

Not only because it was cold or because he wouldn't be able to keep up with the work there – which in itself was a ridiculous notion, the work here was easy enough and he doubted Kiri was much harder – but because he would get so frustrated with his situation, he would end up killing somebody.

That might not be a genuine concern with normal people, but Tobi was normal by no means.

He would raise an army of naïve, angry Kiri students and lead a revolution against the schooling system.

Tobi was like that; capable of manipulating anybody in his presence. But he was happy with what he had in Konaha which was why he didn't use this talent very often. If he were to move to Kiri though… well Itachi could only pray it didn't come to that.

When he reached Tobi's house, Hidan was standing in the doorway wearing a _what-did-i-do_ expression and watching the scene unfold from within the house. Zetsu was there too, watching on with concern written all over his face.

"Hey, what's going on?" Itachi asked, though he could already pretty much guess.

**"This idiot,"**Zetsu pointed at Hidan, eyes full of hate and disdain, **"forgot the meaning of the word ****_secret._** And now Tobi's screwed."

Itachi had figured as much. He could hear words ringing through the house in front of him.

"You better start telling the truth boy. I've had enough of this game!" Tobi's father yelled.

Itachi sighed. He knew there was really nothing he could do about it, no amount of words and lies could get an idea out of their stubborn Uchiha minds. But still, he knew he owed his cousin the small courtesy of support in what may very well be his final moments.

"Tobi doesn't know what you mean!" Tobi exclaimed, voice laced with childish desperation. Even now he had the audacity to fake it.

Then there were the fake tears from his mother and she wailed, "you'd lie to me, even now?!"

But guilt-tripping Tobi wasn't going to work.

"Mother please, Tobi doesn't know what to say!"

Itachi walked into the TV room where his cousin was, sitting on the ground before his parents like a criminal going before the Supreme Court. His father held his school books where he had done actual work, which really didn't look good on Tobi's part.

"I knew we couldn't have had a stupid son!" his father said gruffly.

"No instead, we had an evil genius," his mother complained, glaring at her son with tear stained eyes.

Tobi looked as though he were about to say something, but he stopped dead in his verbal tracks upon seeing Itachi standing in the doorway. Itachi could tell that right then, Tobi hated himself. Not for pretending, but for what he was right about to do.

"Okay look, I'm not an idiot alright? And you can send me to Kiri, I don't fucking care!" Tobi yelled, his voice back to normal and not the happy, cheerful,_ confused_ mess it had been just a moment ago. "Cause if you send me there, I'm not doing the work anyway. I'll fail and you'll end up wasting a whole lot of time and money on me when I don't want it!"

He stood up, flailing his arms angrily for effect. "And you know what? The two of you are really shit parents! It's like you had me for no other reason than to prove your blood was better then everybody else's! And when it wasn't, you tried to hide me from the world, you hid my face from everyone behind that stupid orange mask and you kept me in the compound at all times because you were ashamed, really what _is_ that? You call that parenting?!"

"Tobi please, don't act like it's all our fault!" his mother, "you were trapped in by your own deceit. If you didn't like the way things were going for you, you could've come forth and changed the whole thing."

At that point, Tobi looked ready to kill.

"you don't get it do you?!" he yelled, "god you're so stuck in that tiny minded way of thinking you have, that you never stopped to think _why_ did you? It never crossed your mind that I might be faking, did it?"

"No, because why would anybody do that?" his father asked immediately.

Tobi gave a bitter smile, "exactly," he said, "ex-fucking-actly. Why don't you think on that for a while?!"

And he stormed out.

"Tobi come back here, we're not finished!" his father yelled but it really didn't matter.

Itachi followed quickly after his cousin. He wasn't at all surprised when Tobi stopped to breathe at the door before delivering a well-deserved – but perhaps not well received – punch to Hidan, who stumbled back with the force of it, swearing as he went.

"What was that for?" Hidan asked angrily, wiping blood from his mouth and spitting a large amount onto the ground.

Tobi didn't answer but growled, "I hope you're fucking happy," before stomping off. It was an unspoken agreement that nobody would try to follow him. Not when he was like this.

Itachi watched his cousin march off into the darkness, with no real direction, his anger seeming almost tangible. He had just released about twelve years' worth of repressed rage in his parents direction, after all.

_Wow. I've never felt more helpless and useless in my life._

* * *

_Sasori_

"Urgh, I don't care how long you stay up there; I'm going to kill you!"

Sasori sighed, rolling his eyes and accepting the fact that he had to get up and deal with whatever was going on out there.

It had been about two weeks since that incident and he hadn't yet forgotten the exact way it felt to be left like that, by somebody he cared about. Not only that, but how it felt to be trapped in by an inability to do _anything_ to change things.

It was… _suffocating._

And he still had that urge to go back to Iwa.

That stupid little want in the back of his mind to see Deidara. But not the way he had been before he left. Whenever Sasori pictured him in his mind, he pictured a broken, tortured mess rather than the smiling, _genuinely _happy blonde he wanted to see staring back at him.

He wanted _so badly_ to make that a reality. To make Deidara smile _for real_ and not just that act he had been putting on in Iwa. Sort of like the first time they had seen each other, face to face, through their web cams. Sasori thought that might've been due to the excitement of meeting somebody new and escaping momentarily into a fake, cyber world where he didn't have to worry about where he belonged, because he didn't have to move.

Now what? What was there now?

Well Sasori wouldn't be able to tell you, not even if he wanted to, because he didn't know. Nobody had heard from Deidara since that day though that wasn't exactly surprising seeing as how he had left his laptop and phone in the dorm and therefore had no way to contact anyone.

Sasori didn't even know if he was still alive or not and that drove him crazy.

The brats things were in his room, _almost_ undisturbed, though Sasori knew there was no way Deidara would come this far just for a few electronics and some clothes. He had still taken the bag with him when the program was done.

The program in itself was the biggest waste of time _ever._ He learnt nothing, made no new friends – the girl from before had only really served as an alarm clock and a temporary distraction – and was forced to listen to mediocre artists ramble on for hours on end as though they knew anything.

And to make it worse, there had been no explosion to make it better.

Drowning these thoughts out, Sasori made his way to the kitchen where Kankuro had managed to squeeze himself into the top cupboard in order to avoid a fuming Temari. But the situation seemed to be under control now, and Sasori watched on with amusement as Gaara scolded his older sister before demanding his brother come down and apologize for going through his sisters things. _Again._

Perhaps the only good thing that had come out of the trip was Gaara learning to look after the family and make sure they were good. Sasori knew it was only a matter of time before he picked up some sort of authority over his older siblings and was particularly amused to see them listen to his every word.

_Knock… Knock._

"Get the door," Temari automatically yelled, even though all three boys were already in the room.

Sasori sighed, "I'll get it," he said.

It was late. Well, by desert standards it was anyway. And the only people out of their homes right now were crooks, lunatics, addicts and tourists who just didn't know any better.

So when he got to the door, Sasori was expecting to have to close it right away. He wasn't however, expecting a blonde to fall as the solidity of the door he'd been leaning on gave way.

Sasori's instincts kicked in pretty fast and he moved to catch the blonde before he hit the ground. Blue eyes were closing and a delirious smile marred usually undecided features as a single word slipped from between parted lips, not really meaning much but the tone communicated everything.

He murmured, "_Danna"_


	12. Twelve

**I have been so addicted to CDU lately... god i'm such a loser...**

**uh.. i've got a job interveiw tomorrow (for Macca's though...) so wish me luck! if i get it, i'm gonna spend my first three paychecks on Naruto and Deathnote Merch. then i'll probably buy a buttload of Pepsi. then maybe some drugs, depends what the weathers like.**

**oh and be wary, this story only has like, 5-7 chapters left in it. maybe less?**

* * *

_Chapter Twelve - Deidara_

He woke in a bed that wasn't his after an awesome dream of running away to Suna. It had been a long, vivid dream; he'd snuck out in the middle of the night via window – not the first time, either – trekked to the train station – about three miles from his home – and accidently gotten on the train to Taki. He ended up having to go to Konaha just so he could make it to the desert.

He didn't usually make mistakes like that, especially not during escape attempts which was why he was convinced it was a dream.

He shifted slightly, moving in his state of almost sleep. It was so _hot_ here! Like someone had turned the heater on to full blast or something, it was _suffocating_. Like the house was on fire.

But that was a nice thought; he liked the idea of perishing in a giant blaze. It was comforting in a sick way.

He thought for a moment that maybe he _had_ run away to the desert. But in his mind he felt like that was an impossibility. Until he heard voices he didn't recognise. Three of them.

"Should we wake her?"

"She looks so tired though."

"I can't believe he brought a strange girl home, what a hypocrite!"

"Don't act like that ever stops you!"

"Ugh, shut up!"

"Be quiet, you're going to get us in trouble."

There were three of them. Two boys and a girl.

He opened his eyes slowly as they continued to bicker – well, two continued and the other remained quiet. He felt fear sink in slowly as he realised he wasn't in his own home, where he knew he belonged. He saw a teenage girl with angry blue eyes and blonde hair who was yelling quietly at a slightly younger boy with brown hair and eyes, who looked like he might choose any moment now to run out the door screaming bloody murder. Then there was a small redhead with green eyes who stood still, alternating between watching the other two fight, and staring at the strange blonde who was pretending to be asleep.

Ugh, they thought he was a girl. But he didn't blame them. He knew he must look a wreck, especially if it wasn't a dream and he had really travelled the full twenty-four hours. He could only really hope that his scars weren't showing. It was enough that Sasori had seen them already, but he didn't need anybody else looking at him with those pity-filed eyes.

The door opened and he quickly shut his eyes all the way, scared for an unknown reason. He heard silence which seemed almost unusual after the loud whispering from before, then a sigh.

"Didn't I tell you not to come in here?" the voice was so familiar, painfully so but he couldn't help but think it wasn't true. "Go get dressed; we have to leave in ten minutes."

"Okay," was the united reply of the children and they rushed out of the room quickly.

He opened his eyes again, fully this time; to see brown eyes staring back at him, boredom masking the layers of slight irritation.

"Sorry about my cousins," Sasori said, "they're a little nosy. I have no idea where they get it from."

"It's alright, un," he mumbled. His voice was dry and raspy. It hurt to speak.

He was afraid.

What had he done? What was he thinking?! Why did he leave? It was going to be so hard to go back now!

But he wouldn't. The whole reason he left was because he couldn't take it anymore. Things were getting so bad; he didn't know how he had even been able to leave!

He shouldn't have gone; he shouldn't be here at all! He should leave, go home, go back to where he belonged. But he had wanted so badly to see Sasori again, he couldn't bear it.

He was panicking now and he knew it was written all over his face and embedded right into the very pigments that made his eyes blue. But he couldn't help it. It was worse than the heat – which apparent, was caused by the _actual_ desert – it was like he was drowning in fear. He couldn't breathe.

"Hey brat, are you even listening?" Sasori was clearly irritated. Deidara didn't blame him at all.

"No un," he said, looking towards the window, "what floor are we on?"

Sasori sighed, "Second. And I can see you're not set on staying here. So I'm leaving it up to you," he put some money on the desk he was sitting on and said, "I'm going to school, it's your choice if you stay here or not. Your things are over there if you decide you want them back," he pointed vaguely towards the corner of the room, "and if you decide to stay, please make sure my grandmother doesn't come in here."

With that, Sasori left the room, calling out for his cousins who came running like little puppies.

It was his choice.

Deidara paused.

He had never been given a choice before. It was always, _do this, do that, get home at exactly this time, stay here, say this, never leave, never lie, lie to everyone except me, do as your told or else._

He was going home because he simply didn't have any choices but now…

Now he did and he knew exactly what he was going to do with it.

* * *

_Zetsu_

Thursday was an abstract variant of what you might call hell.

News travelled fast around the compound and suddenly everybody wanted to know if their child had told a lie. Normal parents might have gloated ignorantly – though somewhat ironically – that their children were simply superior, and left it at that. But these people were a special breed of crazy and didn't trust their own blood for a second.

He walked around the compound most of the day – sullen because Tobi was at school – watching parents tear their children's rooms apart while they were at school. He had gotten tired of watching them pull Tobi's apart. He knew they wouldn't find anything anyway, since he and Tobi had already made a plan for all and any evidence.

He knew Itachi had a similar plan for protecting Sasuke from any wrongs he might've made and so he really didn't expect their parents to find anything either. However, everywhere around the compound, parents were stacking up evidence on children.

Yes, it was indeed a bad day to be an Uchiha.

Tobi had come home last night, around two. Zetsu half expected him to be drunk or something. But he was surprisingly calm, all things considered and he took his punishment with his head held high. That being, he had to be tested. He'd spend about twelve hours today having everything tested, the results would arrive tomorrow and immediately after that – if the results were good – he would be taken to Kiri to redo the admittance test.

With the way things were going, Tobi would be shipped off to Kiri to complete his senior year. He'd probably be forced to go to college there as well.

Zetsu knew he wouldn't be able to go to Kiri with him. In fact, he was certain he'd be out of a job by the end of the week since Tobi no longer required constant supervision.

He had been asked if he was insane for not having noticed but he had argued – stupidly, perhaps – that they were his parents and therefore should've known. But it was then said that he spent the most time with Tobi which was true. It was said they were almost like a weird married couple – yeah, they _actually_ said that – which was in no way true but not in every way untrue.

Zetsu was watching as Hidan's things were rifled through by wary parents. Zetsu wondered how he had accumulated so much in his short stay was far beyond Zetsu but he watched nonetheless as clothing was dug through, beds were undone, draws shifted through and a covered mirror stared at long and hard.

Hidan didn't seemed much the type to cover his mirror – though it gave him an excuse to use Itachi's and bug the boy while he was at it – but he had done so, with photos. Much like a girl, Zetsu mused and he remembered Hidan bringing the newly developed photos home and shoving one in Itachi's face, cackling madly and –

Oh dammit!

Zetsu realised it too late exactly what that picture was of and Mikoto had already picked it out, eyes wide with shock – disbelief? – and she attempted to snatch it off of the mirror and hide it but simply wasn't quick enough.

Fugaku's eyes scanned the image in his hands, wondering what was so bad about it that his wife thought fit to hide it. His brow furrowed in confusion as he seemed to realise the imperfections of his own son and if Zetsu could've, he would've warned Itachi not to go home that day.

Yes. Today was _truly_ a terrible day to be an Uchiha.

* * *

_Itachi_

He sat still through what felt like hours of shouting and answerless questions.

It seemed like today was the day it all turned to shit

And really, through it all, he could only really worry for Sasuke. He knew his own fate was sealed now and so chose not to think about it for now, but he thought about that incident over and over, with that Uzamaki kid and Sasuke, trying to analyse it and figure out if there was any way it could've been a friendly gesture. He couldn't stand the thought of Sasuke having to go through this in a few years' time.

His mother in tears. He didn't want her to cry. Even if it was only fake tears, like Tobi's mother. Guilt tripping him wasn't as hard as it should've been.

His father saying such stupid, horrible things. Itachi wouldn't care if he were to drop dead right then and there. Although to be honest, he was only saying things Itachi had recently thought about himself. Up until Spring Break, when he had just stopped caring.

When he thought about it like that, it was true but it didn't sound healthy to just lose interest in your own life. Of course he knew he had lost interest a long, long time ago and that's why he went searching for online friends.

Alright, alright, he got bored with his life, went looking for online friends to keep him entertained, faced a moral dilemma before giving up on caring completely.

That was better. He liked having a complete timeline in his mind, all sorted and neat.

Wait, his father was saying something. He waited for him to repeat it.

"Well boy, what do you have to say for yourself?" he spat.

Oh, say about what? Was this still the same topic or had it changed sometime during his inattention?

Well he had nothing to say in defence of himself, as he felt he didn't need defending; not at all. Because he hadn't done anything wrong. He'd been the most perfect son he could his entire life, never done anything wrong and although he knew he had lied, he was convinced that was the worst thing he'd ever done.

"Well why don't you tell me what you want me to say?" Itachi asked; boredom clear in his voice. He wasn't usually rude like that but he guessed that Hidan was rubbing off on him.

"What?"

"Won't it be a lot easier for you to put words in my mouth? Then we can pretend everything's fine though I'll probably hate you deep down inside and behind that smile, you'll probably never look at me the same. But still, it'll be a lot easier for you to gloat about how you have the perfect son. That's what you want, right?"

Yeah, Hidan was _definitely_ rubbing off of on him. Either that or it was Tobi. He spoke like that a lot when they were alone. He really hated their family.

"You better watch your mouth boy," his father threatened.

Itachi resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Another habit he had probably picked up from Tobi.

"We all know how this ends anyway. So I'm going to give you a little push and say _I'm leaving._"

He had no idea why those words left his mouth but he knew sooner or later they'd leave his father's, if he didn't say them first.

"Wait, Itachi come back here!"

It was his mother's voice that pulled him back. He wouldn't have stopped for his father.

She had caught him, halfway down the hall, on her own this time.

"What is it, mother?" he asked, an almost polite tone returning to his voice.

Her eyes sparkled with something Itachi vaguely recognised as mischief, and she said, "I want to send you to Kiri boarding school, with Tobi."

He thought he'd misheard at first and said, "But mother –"

And how was he meant to finish that sentence? It was clear just by the look in her eyes that she knew what she was doing. So then what could he say? It was _cold_, it was too _expensive_ it was so _far_ but he knew the only other thing nagging at him.

"What about Sasuke?"

She smiled, a kind, knowing smile because again, she understood much more then she probably should.

"It's only for a semester, right? I'll take care of him until then, it's not like you're his mother or anything."

And despite himself, he let the smallest of smiles play across his face.

Mikoto laughed lightly and said, "I always suspected there was something _special_ about my boys."


	13. Thirteen

**Ugh. sorry it took me so long to write this. uh... i made one too many commitments and now it's way past my bedtime... um... enjoy? OH AND I GOT THE JOB! I DON'T KNOW IF ANYONE CARES BUT I GOT A JOB!**

* * *

_Chapter Thirteen – Hidan_

The next week could've been described as anything.

Tiring. Boring. Excruciating.

But none of these words were used, due to the simple fact that he didn't care.

He was merely an impartial observer in the matter and so he felt nothing while he watched Itachi pack his things barely saying a word as a tearful mini Uchiha promptly tipped half-filled suit cases all over the ground in an attempt to deter his brother from leaving.

He felt nothing watching the tearful goodbye of a mother who certainly knew better. Nor did he feel anything watching the cold farewell of parents who were used to disappointment.

However, he felt something upon hearing – rather bluntly – at the train station, that he had ruined both Itachi and Tobi's lives – for at least a semester – and therefore was no longer allowed to stay in the compound. He was however, welcome to train with them to Iwa and see if Deidara would take him in.

He chose to accept that offer.

When they arrived in Iwa however, Hidan was informed – _helpfully_, of course – that Deidara had recently moved to Suna. Something he would've known if he had been a good friend and paid attention lately.

But he couldn't follow them to Kiri for two reasons; one, it was _cold_ and two; he'd have nowhere to stay. He couldn't go to boarding school there, the whole reason he hated Konaha was because Itachi made him go to school, not to mention the fact that it was _expensive_.

The whole reason he didn't stay in Yuga – you know, besides the whole _wanted_ thing – was because he had no money.

He couldn't go to Suna, because it was too _hot_ and besides he doubted that Sasori would take him in since he was already housing Deidara – and because he was a total bitch.

He could go to Ame… but then he'd have the same problem. He didn't want to go to school, but he'd be forced to spend all his time in one anyway. Plus, he couldn't afford it. Hell, he barely had enough money for a train ticket to any of the villages – and he didn't have even half the fare to Kiri – so that meant he had to make the right choice straight away.

And, unfortunately, that left him with only one choice. He had to go to Taki. It was the only available choice. He didn't know where Kakuzu lived but it was a relatively small village so he had a fair idea of how to find out. It wouldn't be his first time tracking somebody down but it would certainly be his first time finding somebody and _not_ killing them – Itachi didn't count in this case, since he'd found Hidan first.

Having made his decision, Hidan – begrudgingly – used the rest of his money to buy a ticket and hoped he wouldn't get lost.

This was, after all, his last choice. His emergency choice.

* * *

_Tobi_

As he remembered, the admittance tests for Kiri boarding school were so easy it should've been illegal. And he completed them, this time with no tricks or anything.

As expected, he got a perfect score, the same as Itachi.

If the two of them hadn't been in separate rooms during the test, they might've been forced to re-sit at separate times for having twin results. As it was, the principal was highly suspicious of them both. Not that it mattered, since they were both accepted and put into classes the very next Monday.

They got a joined dorm and were put in all the advance classes. And, as Tobi had expected, he was forced to join a bunch of other classes as well as extra curriculum to make up for the years where he had acted as an idiot, although his mind hadn't exactly been neglected – but instead put to use making Itachi's life hell – it seemed the remainder of his senior year, would be nothing but cold and extra learning.

Wasn't it supposed to be _Spring?_

He had no idea how the girls here could walk around in those short little skirts and thin blouses.

It was like winter. Only worse. It was like that onetime – _only_ one time – it had snowed in Konaha. Except it wasn't snowing and it was just _cold._

Ugh, whatever. That wasn't important! Even if it was a major factor in his new life, Tobi really didn't care about how freezing it was here. He only cared that he was away from Konaha. And although that was a good thing because it meant he didn't have to spend time around his awful family, stay in the compound all hours of the day, or wear that stupid orange mask, however even though he didn't have to wear the mask, he still felt it's presence and longed for it whenever he was around a large group of people. He guessed that was an unexpected after effect of wearing it for so long.

It also meant that he had to start doing things for himself – not that he _couldn't_ before – and that the only time he could spend with Zetsu, was online at around 2am.

What _was_ that anyway? That was barely a friendship, let alone any kind of relationship. He hadn't cared before when it was just the Akatsuki minus Itachi and Zetsu, because he didn't really know the rest of them and although he liked them, he held no personal stakes in their life.

It was different now, because one of the only people in the world he actually cared about was really far away, practically in another world.

And he had nobody to majorly annoy and manipulate. What the hell was he meant to do with his time?

Zetsu had a new job, with a new family and a new kid to watch over. This one really _was_ an idiot though Tobi swore if he ever got the chance, he'd go back to Konaha and kill the kid. Unless he was feeling particularly charitable that day, which he probably wouldn't be.

He hated Kiri already.

He supposed he could raise an army of kids from Kiri, but he decided that was probably expected of him and so it wouldn't be as fun.

There was always Itachi…

He hadn't told Kisame that they'd moved to Kiri yet. Tobi suspected it was some sort of fear or embarrassment or something like that – even if Itachi wasn't susceptible to embarrassment – though the other insisted it was to be some sort of surprise.

Like, _Surprise, me and my cousin moved to Kiri and it's totally not weird!_ Although Tobi was pretty sure it was.

Anyway, they were standing by their lockers on the first day, though neither of them could fathom why a boarding school required lockers. They were each looking at their timetables, wondering if the class systems here were the same and trying to figure out if they should've asked for a map.

"Biology Level 2," Tobi mused, "it's in TC 7."

"SB 6, right there, so I'm guessing it's on the other side of the building?" Itachi asked distantly.

"That's just _great_," Tobi complained. Yes, now that he was away from Konaha and therefore had no family to complain about, he had taken it upon himself to find other things to hate.

Which of course – as was probably expected – turned out to be everything.

"TC 7, I know where that is."

Both boys looked up, obsidian eyes searching for the source of the familiar voice, and finding Kisame, along with a slightly shorter, paler kid with large brown eyes and a distantly happy expression.

Tobi thought the silence that followed was rather amusing and so he helped to maintain it by remaining quiet. Of course he found comfort in watching other people suffer but Kisame, oblivious to any of that, shattered the moment with more words.

"Okay, uh, this is Haku," he gestured almost awkwardly to the boy standing at his side. Haku and Itachi exchanged matching disarming smiles, though on Itachi, the expression looked so foreign it was almost _wrong_ and it looked as though there was nothing but serenity beneath Haku's, "uh, Haku these are my friends Itachi and Tobi, who live in… Konaha?"

He finished his sentence as a question and both boys shook their heads in disagreement.

"Tobi's parents figured out he's a genius," Itachi said dully.

Tobi didn't like that term being used in the same sentence as his name, so he countered with, "Itachi's parents figured out he's gay."

And oh, perhaps Itachi _did_ feel embarrassment sometimes. He sure looked like he did right now.

"Really, how'd that happen?" Kisame asked them both, still oblivious.

"Hidan," they both replied.

"Wow so you guys like, live here now?"

Tobi sighed, "For now. Unfortunately."

"It's only for a semester," Itachi clarified, "after that, I'll probably move back to Konaha for college… and I don't know what Tobi will be doing."

"Konaha!"

"But you'll be here for a while," Kisame mused, not a question, "Come-on, Haku and I will show you around before class starts."

Tobi sighed, again, and followed after Itachi, falling into step with Haku while the other two walked ahead.

He could tell already, it was going to be a _long_ semester.

* * *

_Sasori_

The last week or so had been awesome.

That first day, he had been shocked to come home and find that Deidara hadn't left, in fact it seemed he'd stayed in bed the entire day. And all the blonde had to say for himself was, _"I couldn't stop your grandmother from coming in here un. She asks a lot of questions."_

Of course he'd then had to endure Granny Chiyo bringing him up at dinner that night, in front of his cousins – _and _Deidara, who'd decided he wasn't too tired to eat – which was a bit of an awkward conversation, as the brat was all too happy to talk and his cousins _already_ had a lot of questions once they found out he wasn't a girl like they originally thought, but it was much worse after that.

Still, Sasori found life was just a little bit more fun with Deidara around to help keep things… lively.

His cousins took an almost immediate shine to him, though they found him a little odd at first, they treated him like one of them, which could've been interpreted as either good or bad. It was good for Deidara because he had something to do with his time but it was bad for Sasori, who had to deal with the trouble they made. And it was even worse, since Deidara knew a bit about explosives and saw it as art; therefore he had no trouble teaching it to children.

Sasori was working on getting him to go to school, so that when the next school year started up, they could go to college together. Deidara wasn't very keen on the idea but it was his chance to learn a little more about art, even if the pair of them had a silent agreement that neither of them needed anymore teaching on the subject. But still, it was also an unspoken law that they _had_ to go to college or risk having no future, like Hidan.

Anyway, life was feeling pretty much perfect. Or so Sasori thought as he walked his cousins home. Yeah, he had to walk his cousins home. Sometimes he felt like he might as well be their father, since he did everything for them. though considering their real father was dead…. Well that wasn't even part of the point.

When he got home Monday afternoon, he knew Granny Chiyo wouldn't be home and so didn't bother calling out to tell her they were back.

His cousins ran immediately to the kitchen in search of food though there would be nothing that didn't require cooking. Still, he left them to their own devices so he could go check on the brat and make sure he hadn't snuck out.

Sure, his… addiction to running back home, was all but extinguished now, he was still the slightest bit of a flight risk.

Sasori wasn't immediately concerned when he didn't find Deidara in his room – by his, he meant _their_ as they were forced to share a room – but he was when he searched the rest of the bedrooms upstairs and didn't find him.

Finally, there was only one last room and so far no signs of life.

So he opened the door to the bathroom.

And Deidara was there.

Sitting on the edge of the tub, jumper off, eyes closed, expression twisted in some sort of sick ecstasy, bloodied hand clutching a kitchen knife, running the sharp edge along his arm slowly.


	14. Fourteen

**Sorry that this took so long... (like, three days? eh, i don't know anymore) and sorry that this story isn't really going anywhere... there'll probably only be like, 2 chapters after this one...**

* * *

_Chapter Fourteen - Sasori_

He didn't looked up until the door slammed shut – and lock.

Azure eyes, hazy and full of something unreadable, met confused brown ones.

"W-what are you doing?"

Now Sasori didn't usually stutter, so this was sort of a big deal. And of course he knew what was going on and he knew of Deidara's dark history with knives and blood, but he still didn't quite _understand_.

Deidara smirked hazily, "it's not deep enough to kill, Danna un," he said, as if that was all there was to worry about.

But it wasn't. and Sasori was – perhaps unreasonably so – pissed. He snatched the knife away from Deidara, who had seemed oblivious during the whole conversation, and was just about to make another cut. His stomach churned as his own hands were stained red with blood. Red, hot, slippery and gross. Sasori disliked the colour red, especially when it was running down the arm and shoulder of someone he cared about, plunging into the blue cotton fabric that covered his scarred body and soaking the tips of his blonde hair.

Although Sasori had to admit, he looked rather… _appealing_ this way. Even if that thought was _sick_ it was also true.

He liked Deidara. Sasori thought about it sometimes and really, even though he was a total brat, he liked everything about Deidara; his strange, _explosive_ personality, even his down, depressive moods, his crazy fits, his childishness and the way he was damaged. Yeah, even if that sounded weird, Sasori's favourite part about him was that he wasn't perfect; no he was far from it.

And he guessed that he'd have to like this part as well, for as long as it stuck around. Though he swore he'd find a way to make Deidara stop this. For now, it was just another, messed up part of him.

"You look like your about to stab me Danna un," Deidara mused, still lost in the pain, "or like you already have."

Sasori dropped the knife immediately in disgust.

"Why would you say something like that?" he murmured. Then he remembered that he was angry and said, "why would you do something stupid like this?!"

Deidara shrugged as thought that could ever be an acceptable answer. He followed up by simply saying, "it feels… _real_."

Sasori frowned, "Brat that makes no sense."

"Sure it does un. How am I supposed to know if I'm real or not, if I feel nothing, un?" he got up shakily and reached out lightly to pinch Sasori's hand. "Feels _real_ right, un?"

"_Hurts_," Sasori corrected, eyeing those long black nails suspiciously.

"I suppose that's one word you could use un," he said thoughtfully, sitting back on the edge of the tub as he was extremely light-headed due to blood lose and therefore couldn't stand too long.

Sasori rolled his eyes, not quite annoyed at this point, but rather concerned when he heard one of his cousins knocking on the bathroom door.

It probably wouldn't be good for their little minds if they walked in right now and saw _this._ Deidara had the same idea it seemed, as he was already shoving his jumper back on hastily. Sasori grabbed the knife and washed it quickly, taking a few things from the medicine cabinet before he pushed Deidara out the door quickly, Past Gaara who didn't manage to get a single word in, and into their bedroom.

Sasori locked the door, thankful that Deidara was wearing black and so the blood wouldn't soak through.

"Take it off," he said, leaning against the door, really not noticing how suggestive that sounded.

"What un?"

"I wanna see your cuts, to make sure they're not too serious."

Deidara frowned, "they never really are un," he said, but he did as he was told anyway.

"There's so much blood," Sasori noted, seeing all the sickening red liquid smeared over Deidara's tanned skin, still leaking from his cuts. "Seriously, there must be like, a thousand of them."

"Seventy-four scars, twenty-six healing and sixteen fresh cuts, un. I keep count."

Sasori was shocked at hearing that. He knew this had been an on-going problem… but not _that_ bad. And sixteen of them… they must've been deep to cause that much blood.

"If I bandage your arms," he said, almost to himself, "what are the chances of you _not_ cutting yourself again?"

"I don't know why you'd even bother, un," Deidara answered, close to passing out, he sat down on the bed, red hands staining the sheets but he was too out of it to care.

_Cause I care about you._

"'cause you're a brat and you can't take care of yourself properly."

Deidara gave a bitter little smile, leaning back and letting his blonde hair fall back out of his eyes. "Go on then un, but I make no promises."

"I'm going to make you better, brat."

_You don't need fixing._

"Un, that sounds sort of strange."

He didn't make a sound when a cloth wet with antiseptic – that stuff that always made Sasori's cousins wish they hadn't been so stupid – wiped away at the blood.

"And a little like wishful thinking, un."

_I wish you weren't so stubborn._

"You're going to end up killing yourself if you keep this up."

Deidara shrugged, smiling slightly as he was snapped at to keep still. "I don't think I'd mind too much. Even going back to Iwa would be better than continuing like this."

Sasori paused, "what do you mean?" he asked.

"I hate… being alive. I feel so _alone_ wherever I am, Danna. Does that make any sense?"

_Yes. But you're not alone._

"No."

Deidara frowned, "I didn't think it would un." He laughed a little, out of it, bitter laugh, "I feel like, everywhere I am, people look at me like I'm… broken. Even you... back in Iwa and I can't… Un, I can't form a sentence properly right now."

_It's alright, continue._

"Maybe it's not worth saying, then."

Sasori didn't know why his mind would form a sentence but different words would tumble out of his mouth before he could stop them. He just _couldn't_ bring himself to be nice to the brat, when he was this angry – yeah, even if he didn't seem angry, he was – at him for hurting himself like this. And for feeling these weird, stupid things. And for being right about Iwa, Sasori knew his first reaction to seeing him this way, was the same. He figured Deidara was broken.

"You're probably right un… and I know, I know I'm meant to be over it, un," Deidara said, hissing slightly in pain as Sasori wiped blood from his collarbone. Those cuts were the deepest, "but I feel like going home."

_Don't._

"b-because un, and I know it's so stupid, but there… I don't feel so horrible inside. When I'm in Iwa, it only hurts on the outside un, which I can deal with," he stopped for a moment, eyes closed, trying to catch his breath, "and there, I have somebody who doesn't care how damaged I am… "

_He prefers you in pieces._

"And that's more than I have anywhere else, un."

_You're such a brat,_ "you're such a brat."

"Mm, I think you've mentioned that before un. I always thought that name suited me."

_And you're so messed up,_ "you're so messed up."

"Un, I know."

_And it's what makes you…_

"It's what makes you perfect."

Azure eyes opened slowly, questions swimming around in their ocean-like depths.

"Wh-what un?"

Sasori smirked. Of course, he'd doubt those words; they barely made any sense at all. And yet they made more sense to him than anything else ever had.

"All I'm saying is," He said, leaning in so there was barely space between them to breath, "stick around for a while."

Deidara took that as his cue to close the gap between them, pressing his lips against Sasori's in a weak, light-headed kiss , bringing a blood-soaked hand up to grasp Sasori's shoulder, to keep himself from passing out.

In retrospect, cutting himself so many times probably wasn't a very good idea. But it led to this…

He smiled slightly, pulling away only after a small while, to catch his breath. Somehow, through everything that had happened in the last few minutes, he was smiling a _genuine_ smile, like Sasori had wanted.

"If I remember this," he mumbled, leaning his forehead against Sasori's, feeling consciousness slip away slowly, "then I promise I'll try, un."

* * *

_Kakuzu_

It was 12am when he got home.

He had about forty-five minutes to sleep before he had to get ready for his next and – thankfully – final shift of the night. Then he'd have to get up at about six, so he could get ready for school, which he hated, before doing it all over again. He'd already worked three other shifts today.

If he didn't know better about the effects it would have on his future, he'd probably quit school. Right now, education wasn't even half as important to him as money was. He would no doubt forget everything he'd learned in the last year if offered a reasonable amount of money to do so.

Still, he was smarter than to just quit something. Especially school.

He knew that enduring it meant he'd have better opportunities to make more money in the future.

Besides, the whole reason he was working so much, was so that he could afford to go to college.

He stumbled through his dark, studio apartment. Somehow he _always_ managed to kick the coffee table. He didn't know why he even had one of those. He didn't even drink coffee!

He finally made it to his bed and attempted to crawl into it, only to have his path blocked by someone else. It was no matter though; he simply kicked the sleeping body of his – somewhat unwanted – guest to the floor, prompting him to wake up.

"What the fuck, asshole?! I was trying to sleep!"

Yes, he had taken Hidan in, simply as a sort of favour to Konan, who didn't necessarily care if Hidan had a place to stay, but just wanted him to leave her alone. Apparently when Kakuzu had refused to take him in, Hidan went on line and pestered Konan for about two hours.

He'd been, admittedly, a little concerned at first about having Hidan come here – even if he'd already managed to track him down through the school – but his worries were quickly put to rest as although it seemed Hidan _was_ one to judge by appearances, he just so happened to find gross, ugly scars, _really_ interesting.

And so two weeks later, even though he'd explained the rules _very_ carefully _very_ often, _this_ was still happening.

"Okay and you can do that," he said carelessly, pulling the covers away from Hidan who lay sprawled on the ground, "but dogs sleep on the floor."

"Fuck you! It's not like you were using it anyway!"

"I was at work, it's not like I went out of town."

"Why do you even work so much, it's not fucking healthy!"

Kakuzu sighed, he wasn't in the mood for this right now, but that could be due to the fact that he'd barely slept at in the past two weeks. And even before that, he'd been having trouble. He had been having trouble in fact, since his parents died.

"Life isn't free, Hidan," he said, _but wouldn't it be fucking lovely if it was_, "and unless you're willing to get a job…"

No, that was _far_ too much to hope for. Hidan didn't care about money, though it would be good if he could at least learn the value of it, early on rather than having nowhere to go when the rest of Akatsuki went to college…

"Alright I will, on one condition," Hidan said, sitting up, "because I hate sleeping on the damn floor."

To be fair, he was tired. And bored from sitting around the house all day alone. And would've said anything to get back into bed.

"Wait, seriously?" Kakuzu asked. He felt as though he were hearing things.

"Fuck yes I'm serious! It's cold down here! And Taki is so small, there's hardly anything to fucking do!"

Shocked out of his moment of silence, Kakuzu shrugged. What was the worst that could happen?

"Alright, you got a deal."

* * *

**I'm going to start taking requests. so if anybody ever has one.. just PM me a pair and what you want it to be about and i'll do it ^^ ...unless you happen to request my anti-ship. but yeah.. uh, i want to challenge myself, so that'd be awesome if you could be a part of it :D**


	15. Fifteen

**oh god guys, i am so sorry for not updating in a while. i've just been SOOOOO busy watching FullMetal Alchemist Brother... OMG ENVY! *coughs* yeah... i don't know if any of you have seen it but i've seen half of it and it's fucking awesome!**

**anyways, i kinda rushed this update due to anonymous reveiwer, who said they miss me and i was like... AW! I'VE BEEN A TOTAL DICK NEGLECTING MY STORY LIKE THIS! and i decided to write this.**

**might not be another one for a few days, since i'm taking my bestie out for a day and i'll be at work but the next chapter is likely to be the epilogue because i see nowhere else this can go.**

* * *

_Chapter Fifteen – Tobi_

Absence makes the heart grow fonder…

That's a song right?

Well it was wrong. Absence only served to piss him off.

About _everything._

And it wasn't enough that he had to be away from home and away from the things that made him feel safe and in _control_, but he had to be around his smitten cousin all the time. Not that anybody besides him could tell, but that only made it worse. And that big blue idiot and his small, polite friend were just as annoying.

This school was so cold!

The work was ridiculous!

The teachers were mean and totally deserved the revenge he dealt out to them.

The students were annoyingly friendly!

He was going back to Konaha.

Right. Now.

He had everything packed and ready. He had enough money to make it at least to Iwa and would likely have to hitchhike and travel a lot of the way on foot. But he was going home. Itachi wasn't here to stop him and Haku wasn't doing a thing to get in his way.

"If this is what you want, I'm sure your cousin will understand," he said.

Stupid kid. He looked like a chick, anyway!

"I don't care," Tobi said.

The last thing to pack away was his laptop. The infernal machine had brought him nothing but pain since the beginning! He'd only even gotten it so that he could help Itachi find internet friends. What a great idea that had turned out to be!

He was going to log in right now and take himself out of the chat group. He never wanted to think about the Akatsuki ever again.

But then…

Black_And_White_World: strange that you'd be online right now, **I was seconds away from running off to Kiri.**

Tobi_Is_A_Good_Boy: ha-ha, funny. I'm literally running away to Konaha right now. I figure this is the only time all year when it won't be fucking raining!

Black_And_White_World: **wait,** you're serious?

Tobi_Is_A_Good_Boy: of course I am, dammit! I hate it here!

Black_And_White_World: I figured you would. **You hate everything.**

Tobi_Is_A_Good_Boy: Not everything!

Black_And_White_World: sure you do. **You're just a miserable person.** You hated Konaha and everyone in it before you had to leave, you hate your family, your parents, your new school, the students, the teachers, the ground your standing on and I'm pretty sure right now you're not too crazy about me or the Akatsuki right now.

Tobi paused. How did he know all of that? Was he psychic or something?

Well it didn't matter.

Tobi_Is_A_Good_Boy: so what if you're right. You can't make me change my mind. I'm coming home.

Black_And_White_World: you mean, **running away?**

Tobi_Is_A_Good_Boy: _excuse me_?!

Black_And_White_World: you heard me, **running away**, _like a coward._

Tobi_Is_A_Good_Boy: who the hell do you think you're calling a _coward?!_

Black_And_White_World: that's what you're doing though, isn't it? Running away because things have become too hard where you are. You're a little too **afraid.**

Tobi_Is_A_Good_Boy: you know what? Fuck you! I'm staying in Kiri. I'm no coward dammit!

_Tobi_Is_A_Good_Boy has logged off._

Tobi began to furiously unpack his things; curious brown eyes watched him from the side-lines as he shoved his clothes back in their draws angrily. He didn't care at all when he noticed Haku speaking, asking what had happened. He merely tossed the laptop – rather carelessly – onto Itachi's bed where the kid stay and got on with what he was doing.

As he made quick work of what he was doing, he heard the quiet, _annoying_ sound of laughter.

"What's so funny?!" he growled, glaring at the boy who was still reading over the messages.

"Oh I don't mean to be rude," Haku said, a smile lingering, "but I can't believe you fell for that."

* * *

Hidan

"Would you like fucking fires with that?"

He didn't flinch when he felt his managers' eyes burning a hole in the back of his head. He didn't care what that prick thought.

This was the only job he could get with his limited qualifications and criminal record longer then Santa's List. And he hated it. He would rather go back to Konaha and go to school with Itachi and Tobi. Except that he couldn't because those idiots had gotten themselves moved to Kiri.

He would even go to school _here_ because he hated these people. They were all morons and they spoke down to him, which he really didn't like. Kakuzu said it was a wonder that he hadn't gone crazy yet and murdered everyone in Taki, to which Hidan would often reply that he was planning to just as soon as the other went off to college.

It seemed like in no time at all – or a semester, whatever way you chose to put it – everybody would be going off to college. Well, all of the Akatsuki at least. He wouldn't have anywhere to go... unless somehow he managed to trick one of them into taking him to college… or he could stay in Konaha with Zetsu since he'd already been to college.

It wouldn't be the same though.

"Kay mam, that'll be eighteen fucking fifty," again he felt his manager's angry glare. He was just waiting for the man to give him a _reason_ for stabbing him. For some reason, Hidan felt like it wouldn't go over well if all he said in defence was, _because I felt like it dammit!_ "Alright now get the hell out of my face."

It would be a miracle if he didn't get fired by the end of the month.

He didn't even want the money the job provided him with, all he wanted was a comfortable bed to sleep in at night and a television to watch SpongeBob on.

Couldn't he have gotten a better job? Like one of the ones Kakuzu had?

Urgh, whatever. He moved on to the next customer. He swore, if this went on too long though, he really _would_ end up killing everybody in Taki when the semester was over.

* * *

Deidara

He woke up in a room doused in white. It was the standard, Suna variant of an Iwa hospital room he supposed. It smelled the same, with that gross lingering stench of toothpaste and something vaguely reminiscent of lemons.

He remembered what had happened. The knife, the blood, the pain and fear that didn't quite feel right. he'd never felt afraid to die before, but in those moments before Sasori walked in, when he felt like this time he might not be able to stop, he felt terrified to lose everything he'd suddenly gained overnight.

Then Sasori made it all go away, somehow. He didn't even do anything; he just showed somehow that he cared. Deidara had never had anyone care about him before. Then right before Deidara passed out, they had kissed. It was like, a silent lock to the promise he'd made. Yeah, he remembered vaguely, promising to stick around.

In his heart of hearts, way deep down, he knew the only way he'd be able to leave Sasori's side now, was in a coffin.

He had promised to try when what he really meant was that he'd stay around long enough to become a burden and by then there'd be no getting rid of him. When he decided something, it was final.

Slowly, he tried to open his eyes. It still hurt quite a lot but he'd felt worse pain in his life. He felt his arms at his side, barely able to move. He remembered having them bandaged up but couldn't image those same bandages were the ones restricting his movement.

He let out a small, strangled sound of pain that barely made an impact above the beep of an EKG machine, as he shifted to get a better look around. He could see a bag of red liquid hanging from a metal rack; a tube transported the stuff right into his arm. He guessed it was blood since he'd lost a lot of it during that afternoon. Just the thought of it though, somehow made him feel sick.

"I think he's waking up," a voice murmured. It wasn't a voice he could ever remember hearing before, but that didn't frighten him at all. He was in Suna, and Suna was his safe house. "Is it morbid in any way that I find this exciting?"

"Yeah," was the dull reply to the woman's – he was sure the other voice came from a female – voice.

"Oh screw you, who cares what you think anyway?" again the woman spoke, she sounded rather chipper considering the situation and yet it somehow didn't seem out of place.

When Deidara could finally see properly enough to make out more than just shapes immediately in front of him, he saw a girl leaning over him. She had long, flowing blue hair, amber eyes and a strangely curious smile. If he hadn't been hurting so badly, Deidara wouldn't have hesitated to jump out of bed and run the hell away.

"Holy fuck, who the hell are you, un?" Deidara settled for yelling, even though just a single syllable made his throat burn, it was all he could do to express his shock.

"Now Deidara is that any way to speak in front of a lady?" she asked cheerfully.

"Pft lady, sure."

"Un, I'm sorry. But…" he hoped his question would be answered now and as luck would have it, the girl seemed to be adept at reading minds.

"When I heard what happened to you over the Akatsuki page, I couldn't resist coming here!" she said. Oh, so this was Konan? Well he hadn't imagined her being so… enthusiastic about everything. In fact, she'd be a lot different and this change, even online, had only been recent. But then her expression turned dark, "attempted suicide, huh? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!"

Deidara filched, the action was full of pain and fuelled by fear. "Nuh-uh un, it's not like that!" he insisted, "Whatever Danna told you, it's not true!"

But she didn't believe him.

And so, for the next twelve minutes and thirty seconds, Deidara had to endure a lecture from a woman he'd only just met, about how life was wonderful and full of so much hope and happiness and fun as long as you just let yourself live it. And also vividly violent promises of what would happen to him if he ever tried anything like this again. It was about after the seventh threat that she was interrupted, both by Pein who she'd dragged along with her from Ame, and a doctor, who perhaps should've been summoned as soon as the blonde woke up.

Questions were asked; _does this hurt? Do you need anything? Does it hurt right…. here?_ But eventually, they were once again, left alone once they were told he'd be able to leave in a matter of days, however, he'd remain on suicide watch for a while after that.

Konan had since calmed down, having said her bit and feeling as though she'd done her part, they just sat around and talked.

Apparently, she and Pein had been in Suna for two and a half days and so far, found it suffocating, hot and sandy, as any normal person would. They'd taken about four days away from school and Konan was immeasurably happy that Deidara woke when he did.

He'd been asleep for exactly one week. In that week, not a lot had changed. Sasori went to school like usual, looked after his cousins as though they were his own kids and visited the hospital enough to make anybody sick of the colour white for the rest of their life.

Not much was really going on with the rest of the Akatsuki though they were all amused – as Deidara was as well – to learn that Hidan was _finally_ getting his act together. It appeared he was doomed to a life of serving fast-food to strangers, either that or selling himself but nobody could see that happening. Not in this life and not in the next twenty-thousand lives to follow. Itachi found it a little insulting that he hadn't managed to turn Hidan's life around himself though, which was something Deidara also found amusing, and Tobi had gone on a downwards spiral of hating everything and so he was ignored.

Life had that sort of special, happy glow to it, like it never had before and Deidara felt himself smiling and he allowed himself to laugh throughout the stories his friends told. They were amazingly in sync for two people who had only discovered each other's existences a month or so ago, and Deidara found himself thinking how they fit like two strange pieces of the same fucked up puzzle.

He was still laughing after a recount of Konan and Pein's first face to face meeting, when Sasori walked in, having taken his cousins home already, he expected Deidara to still be asleep. To walk in and find him laughing like that, smiling, _happy_ like he had been that first time… it wasn't at all like he thought it would be.

It was… _better_.

There was finally life in those blue eyes of his, finally a reason to carry on. He could tell his promise would be kept and he'd get to see that smile a lot more and hear that laugh and he'd finally get that happy ending he went looking for online. _Beginning,_ happy beginning.

He didn't say much while Pein and Konan were still around. He just stood near the doorway and watched them all talk about things he knew none of them would've spoken of, before the Akatsuki became a thing. They'd acknowledged his presence but nothing more than a simple _hello_ was said to him until Pein and Konan decided they should head back. They were staying with Sasori and his family. It was a tight fit, but two of his cousins had agreed to share which made things a little easier at least.

"Danna un," Deidara said when they were finally alone. And all traces of his smile were now gone, leaving him to look lost and frightened. Sasori didn't want him to be afraid of anything anymore but he kept up a look of indifference. "I… I want to go back to school."

That wasn't what he'd been expecting.

"Huh?" he asked, not quite sure if he'd heard correctly.

"I want to go back to school un," he repeated, "you and I are going to Suna college together right? So I need to finish high school. Unfortunately."

"You're sure about that? Cause I mean, you don't have to. It was only a passing suggestion."

"I know un. But Pein convinced me… he said, I couldn't be anything if I didn't at least give it a try un," the humour returned to his eyes and he said, "and besides, if I let you go off to college alone, I'd be stuck taking care of your cousins. Those brats need to learn how to care of themselves."

Sasori couldn't help but laugh at that, "yeah. You're really one to talk aren't you?"


	16. Epilogue

**Okay so final chapter... UNLESS anybody has a suggestion as to where this could go from here. but i am otherwise done. I WILL be writing another story, if anyone cares. it WILL be SasoDei, because i just can't shake the pairing and it WILL be up in the next day or two.**

**this chapter is partially dedicated to Sonia-Kun.**

**thanks for the support with this story and all the awesome reveiws! i always feel better when i wake up and see i have a new reveiw!**

**speaking of such, omg Lolzyukari SPOILERS! i'm not even that far yet! and yeah, Ling is a pretty close second ^^**

**and ThatOneGuyWhoIsANinja sorry, but if you read this, you will find enclosed, slight Hidan bashing. but not like... too much, i tried to go easier on him.**

* * *

_Epilogue - Omniscient_

In the last year before college, nothing notably important occurred.

Just nine seniors and one slightly older Konaha villager, who finally found something to fill the void.

And in the final semester, again nothing notably important took place. By then, the restless Uchiha boys, unsettled by their dull, repetitive lifestyles – or angered by just about everything around them – had found a rhythm by which to live and though neither of them were _always_ happy – and one of them less so then the other – life for them seemed to have a brighter glow then it used to. Free from lies, harsh expectations, unbelievable families and other annoyances, free to simply be.

And it was without a doubt – even if the older of the two hated to admit it – all thanks to the Akatsuki.

As for Kisame, he was content attending high school like he never thought he'd get the chance to, and having so many friends, on and offline, as well as being with Itachi, all things that never would've happened without the Akatsuki. He got through the rest of the year without incident.

Over in Suna, it was no longer a struggle to get Deidara to relax and he accepted school life back like it was nothing. In fact, if anything was a struggle, it was getting him and Sasori apart, not that the redhead minded; he'd gone online looking for somebody, just as Deidara had, and he'd found just that in the form of a big blonde ball of sunshine, even if the brat had his problems, issues, occasional freaky nightmares and totally _wrong_ views on art.

And it was due to the Akatsuki.

In Ame, Konan and Pein continued on like they had before the Akatsuki was a thing, only they had more reason to carry on then they had before; they had each other. It was true that misery loved company but the two were quite quick to figure out that that was because once misery had someone to share its loneliness with; things didn't seem quite so bad.

It was strange to think that if not for the Akatsuki, they would've kept admiring each other from afar, never knowing much more of each other than the simple fact that they each existed.

As for the only one left in Konaha after the raid on Uchiha child privacy, Zetsu had found joy and peace in an old cause; one that many would say was a lost one. Although he'd gotten another job, having to tend to a _real_ helpless idiot every day, he hadn't been neglecting his old job and his old charge. No, every single time Tobi wanted to give up, runaway, try something stupid, _destroy everything,_ he was right there like he'd always been though it was in a different way; a way that might make the Uchiha hate him for a little while but it was better than having the boy hate himself instead.

If the Akatsuki had never been, Zetsu never would've been able to help Tobi earn the brighter future that he may or may not have wanted. After all, it was only after a blunder caused by one of the Akatsuki's members, that he was able to do anything of real use.

Taki was perhaps the strangest case though, with two boys who _honestly_ couldn't say why they'd gone looking for friends in the first place, and hated each other to no end and yet worked together so well. There was a strange peace between them; one that Hidan felt he would miss when his roommate moved away to college. He had to admit, even though he hated working, he enjoyed having a place to actually call his _home._ Even in Yuga, he'd never had that. Throughout the last semester of high school – which he absolutely refused to attend, even though it seemed preferable to working – he attended tertiary classes which in Taki, didn't require you to be a high school graduate and was able to get a better job.

Everyone in the Akatsuki made continuous jokes about how he was finally getting some sort of life together for himself and even though he hated their words and he wanted to kill them all for even daring to speak, he was happy. It was a strange feeling but he was indeed happy.

By the time the Akatsuki had been a thing for a full year, they'd all basically forgotten about how miserable they'd been – even if some of them still were, in a way – and moved on to wonderful new lives.

Spring Break rolled around again, the only season all of the Akatsuki could be in one village at the same time – all the villages were either too hot or too cold for Kisame and Sasori during the others – and a blonde stepped lightly out of a train and onto the platform in Konaha station, dragging a redhead along with him. Neither noticed the strange stares they got and neither cared.

"Un, Iwa station is so much better than this!" the blonde exclaimed, looking around at Konaha's small excuse for one, which only housed trains travelling to three of the other villages.

"Yeah, but Iwa as a village kinda sucks."

"Got that right, un."

The two had spent the majority of their time in college, ridiculing other peoples work. They'd taken the art route, as was expected and although Deidara was often scolded for attempting to blow up the lecture halls on the other side of the building – because, who needed lawyers anyway – they were both equally happy to be somewhat free and daily calls from home assured them both that Sasori's cousins hadn't yet killed each other.

As they walked out into the dull Konaha sunlight, a broad smile overtook the blonde and he said, "god un, it's so nice to finally be somewhere where it's not a thousand degrees outside," _and even hotter inside._

"Speak for yourself brat," Sasori mumbled. He was of course, freezing, as was expected and this was only made slightly better by the knowledge that his Kiri counter-part would be burning up in a place such as this.

This would be the first time the entire Akatsuki was in one place at one time. Although the two from Suna had met each other as well as Konan and Pein, they still had no idea what to expect of the rest of the group. Of course, they weren't expecting anything even _slightly_ normal because it would be nice to know the rest of the group were as _eccentric_ as they seemed online.

In fact, not a single member of the group had come into contact with everyone else, though Hidan had come pretty close; constantly travelling and all but he'd failed to make it away from Taki.

On the other side of the village, Itachi and Tobi were in an alley, leaning against a wall, the latter tapping his foot rather impatiently. They'd been back in Konaha for six months by now, though Itachi had spent a lot of time travelling back and forth between Kiri and Konaha, he had no trouble keeping up with the assignments given out in college and was top of his class. Again.

Tobi had decided to get a job straight away and ended up working in an office. He found it boring as hell but at least he got to live in Konaha. Itachi got an apartment near the college, big enough for them both to stay in, since they were no longer welcome in the Uchiha compound.

Tobi let an impatient growl slip from his throat.

They were outside the house of Zetsu's new charge – the place where the plant man also now resided – waiting for him to get off work.

As it turned out, the day Tobi returned home, he _was_ in a rather charitable mood and so didn't immediately rush to murder the kid who had taken his place. Naturally, he felt threatened because he was used to being the centre of the other's attention but after meeting the kid, he figured he was safe.

Still, he couldn't help brief moments of jealousy like this.

A rare smile curved his cousins' mouth and the younger Uchiha said, "I'd hate to be the unfortunate bastard who cheats on you."

To which Tobi gave a glare. Itachi had developed a better – well, more _interesting_ – vocabulary while away from his little brother but at times like this, it was rather annoying. He wasn't acting _that_ badly.

Well whatever. Patience had _never_ been one of his virtues!

Just when Itachi was getting ready to watch his cousin break a window, Zetsu emerged from the house they were watching. And lucky for both him and the kid, he was alone.

"About time," Tobi muttered, stomping out of the alley.

With little more than a simple greeting, they were on their way.

"This village is so cool!"

Atop a roof near the centre of the village, Pein and Konan sat staring out at the sunny view of Konaha. It was like, a billion times the size of Ame and they couldn't see all of it in any direction. They'd already been there for two days and hadn't managed to completely explore a single section of the place yet.

"Any louder and the people who live here will begin to wonder what we're doing," Pein drawled. He was of course, enjoying himself and was happy that Konan was having so much fun, but he had to be the voice of reason sometimes when she was otherwise occupied.

She'd gone on into psychology when she moved to college and was eager to meet the resident Akatsuki members of Konaha, all of whom seemed interesting candidates to study, from what she'd seen online.

Pein had gone down more of a political track. He said someday, he'd be the king of Ame – that was until Konan informed him that Ame was a democracy. It was of little worry to Konan whenever she heard him mutter under his breath, _'first Ame, and then the world…'_ because she knew he was good, no matter his weird fantasies of world domination.

"Come-on, if we go now we might not be late," he told Konan, standing up to stretch his legs. They'd been there since before the sun rose, just watching the village move.

Konan let out a light laugh, "I don't even know where we are, of course we're gonna be late!"

She skipped across the roof, her smile and movement both reminiscent of a little girl. Pein simply rolled his eyes and followed her.

_Back here again. It's way too hot out here._

Kisame was perhaps the least happy to find himself in Konaha. He had argued vehemently for this little meeting to be held in Kiri but lost every time due to the fact that Sasori would likely freeze and die after the first five minutes.

Stupid desert dweller.

Why did people have houses in the desert anyway?!

Why did people have an entire village in the middle of a damn desert?!

_What the hell was wrong with people!?_

The only good thing about this trip was that he'd be able to see Itachi. Not that he didn't already see a lot of the Uchiha, but it was always on the go, he was always in such a rush to get things done. Kisame sometimes thought he was just another thing on the boy's mountain high to-do-list.

That kid had _way_ too much on his plate.

Kisame however, hadn't chosen to carry on with school. He'd had his fun and graduated high school – shocking everybody who wasn't there to witness it – and was now done. Done with education, done with attempting to better himself, done with looking for something more out of life.

He had thought before that he wanted friends, education, a good paying job, a _normal_ life. But what he lived now wasn't even in sight of normal and yet it was perfect.

He'd only just gotten back to this stupid village and it was already too warm. But they'd promised online that it would be cooler up on the mountain, by the monument and so that's where he headed.

On top of the mountain, looking down at the seemingly endless village, Hidan was beginning to get impatient. He felt it was strange being early, as he rarely ever was and he didn't quite like being back in this god forsaken village.

Wouldn't it have been better to have had this little meeting in Yuga?

But then… he was a wanted criminal there and didn't _really_ want to go back.

Life had improved exponentially since he left and he wasn't about to throw that all away and go back to that empty place.

With his short, limited tertiary education he'd managed to make it to management level in six months – even if everyone else insisted he wasn't _nearly_ as hardworking as he'd need to be. he didn't like his job, not at all though he found it was much better than serving fast-food to strangers and he _definitely _enjoyed being in a position of power over other people; something the Akatsuki found slightly concerning.

Those bastards. They were never happy with anything he did! They were like… they were like how Tobi described the Uchiha's! But he'd never had a family of his own before. It was strange to think that a bunch of strangers he'd met online had become the closest thing he'd ever have to a family.

Anyway, he bet they were just pissed off that they had to spend another three and a half years in college and he was already halfway to retirement!

Still, he couldn't help but hope Itachi and Tobi hadn't held a grudge because of what had happened. It wasn't his fault dammit!

He thought maybe living with Kakuzu all this time had taught him some screwed up type of empathy. Because he knew he had never cared before.

"This place had got to be at least twelve times the size of home," Kakuzu wasn't usually one to gawk or be awestruck by the general size of something, but this high up and surrounded by so much, how could anybody not be a little amazed?

"Try fifty. Taki is an anthill compared to this place."

Kakuzu frowned, thinking maybe he was right. But Taki had never seemed so small to him until right now. _Now_, his world was beginning to look tiny compared to what Hidan's must be like.

He was now thinking that maybe, once he was done with med school – yeah, after _much_ persuasion from the other, he'd decided med school was the best choice – he could move here. It was must be much more interesting living in a place like this and there was really nothing keeping him in Taki. Of course… there'd be a lot of people but living with Hidan had gotten him accustom to people. And for the first time in a really long time he felt happy.

But then, Hidan wouldn't be happy if he had to relocate to Konaha and get a new job. But he was sure they'd work something out.

"How long does it take to find a damn mountain?" Hidan growled, thoroughly annoyed at this point. _Who the hells idea was it to carve people's faces into a mountain anyway?!_

"Evidently long enough to keep you waiting."

Both men looked towards the sound of a voice and were greeted but the bright smile of a blue eyed blonde and the bored brown eyes of a shivering redhead.

So this was the pair from Suna.

Hidan's eyes immediately took in the damage to the blonde's arms and much of the rest of his body, exposed to the prying eyes of society as well as the dull but nice Konaha sunlight.

Deidara had become accustomed to wearing less then what he would in Iwa, due to the heat, which often left him with is scars out for all the world to see. But throughout his stay in Suna he'd gained enough confidence in himself to not care about the way people looked at him. And that included Hidan, though his eyes weren't as disgusted as most peoples were.

Of course, a lot of the bruises and small cuts were gone now and Deidara was proud to say he hadn't cut himself in eight months – there had been a small incident since he was admitted into hospital.

Hidan and Deidara got on easily. They were polar opposites but so similar at the same time. It started with a small question about Deidara's cuts and before either of the other two knew what was happening, they were talking loudly and laughing like old friends.

Neither Kakuzu nor Sasori had a clue what they were talking about but whatever it was, apparently it was _hilarious._

It seemed the other eight members of the Akatsuki were completely forgotten until –

"Wow, I didn't expect _you_ to be early."

Once again, Hidan found himself looking for the source of a voice and was rather disgruntled to see none other than Itachi Uchiha, who really looked no different than he had the last time they met.

"Don't look so shocked. Remember, Hidan's a _good boy_ now," and there was Tobi who, despite the tone of his voice, looked rather annoyed. There was no trace left of the old Tobi, who was continuously happy, even when he took the mask off. No now, there was only a frown plastered on his face and his eyes had lost that mischievous spark they'd once had.

"Don't be so mean!" a pair of blue arms snaked their way around the younger Uchiha's waist and a similarly coloured head rested on the boy's shoulder, "is that any way to treat a guest in your village?"

Apparently Kisame was here as well.

Hidan resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He had figured long-distance would destroy what those two idiots had. But apparently not and they were _still _insufferable.

He noted somewhere in the back of his mind, Zetsu's presence though the plant man remained almost silent, taking in all the unfamiliar faces and attempting to guess who was who.

"I didn't invite him here," Tobi mumbled.

Oh, so he was still sore about what had happened.

Hidan couldn't help the bad feeling he got in his stomach.

Stupid empathy!

"Don't mind him, it's really nothing personal," Itachi said, "he's just pissed off 'cause –"

"Shut up!" Tobi immediately demanded, much to Hidan's amusement. It was much better when they were fighting each other.

"Geez un, they're worse than your cousins," Deidara whispered to Sasori, watching the two argue.

"I know. I'm starting to miss home already."

"You guys have sure changed, what the fuck happened?" Hidan asked. He got a generic response from Itachi and a short rant from Tobi before conversation died down.

They all stared at each other, the new comers suddenly seeming to realise Hidan wasn't the only one there. It was awkward and quiet for a moment until…

"So un, this is the Akatsuki?" Deidara asked finally, breaking the silence. Of course he wasn't forgetting about Pein and Konan who had evidently gotten lost, but these were the six he hadn't yet met. "I don't know why I always pictured a bunch of fat bastards sitting behind those keyboards. I must say un, I'm pleasantly surprised."

Hearing the way the blonde spoke, it was no trouble for the two Uchiha's to quickly determine who was who, based on what they already knew. Zetsu had come to his own conclusions as well, leaving Kisame behind, struggling to guess. Deidara had decided to not even try and just go for the direct approach.

"Anyways un I'm Deidara. What the hell do I call you?"

Sasori sighed. It seemed Hidan was already beginning to rub off on his brat.

They exchanged names nonetheless and despite himself, a slight spark returned to Tobi's eyes as he spoke with Deidara. The blonde didn't exactly get along well with the Uchiha cousins at first; it wasn't an instant connection like with Hidan but by the time Pein and Konan showed up, they were making progress.

As for Sasori, well he'd never really liked people though these people in particular were alright, he supposed. They _were_ actually as weird as they were online, in person and made up for any missed points, with their appearances and weird stories. He had figured it would be weird to meet all of these people for real, like maybe it would complicate things but if anything, having faces to go with the names, made things easier.

He and Deidara got a great view of the inner workings of their _friends_ and found that exactly a year ago, they'd put their trust and lives in the hands of eight freaky strangers.

It was around noon when Pein and Konan _finally_ made an appearance, the latter yelling an enthusiastic excuse about how they'd gotten lost along the way. Deidara couldn't help but wonder why they'd planned to have this little get together here if they didn't know their way around although with all the online talk lately about world domination – a strange dream of Pein's – he had a slight idea of why.

When the day was over and the entire Akatsuki had spent the majority of it together, roaming around a village they didn't know, where they stuck out like sore thumbs, a blonde could be seen walking through an alley, dragging a redhead behind him, insisting that this way was shorter.

"Un, they're an interesting group of people," Deidara mumbled, feeling really tired after such an exhausting day.

He'd been dragged into almost all of the arguments had between Hidan and basically anyone – including the waiter – as he and Hidan were now apparently _besties_ as Tobi had put it. Of course, the blonde didn't mind; he rather liked Hidan, and he supposed the others were pretty cool as well, but they could be a handful. He felt like their mother or something.

"_Interesting,"_ Sasori repeated in an almost contemplative tone, "I don't think that's the exact word I'd use to describe them."

"They're a lot of fun though, right un?"

"Yeah I guess, maybe coming here wasn't such a bad idea."

Deidara laughed lightly, that _nothing-could-make-me-happier-then-I-already-am_ laugh that Sasori loved so much, and leaned slightly on the other.

"Well un," he said, pausing to yawn, "We have the entire Spring Break to find out."


End file.
